Light in the Shadows
by Shyranae
Summary: When a village is destroyed, a refugee makes his new home in Hogwarts, but unknown to the occupants he has brought a friend.
1. The Attack

_I've hit a bit of a blip with my current story so I am coming back to the first few chapters of Light in the Shadows to fix them up and sort things out in my head._

_For those of you who are new to this series this is written from two perspectives, Harry's and Yami's. At the start of each chapter it should be obvious whose perspective that one will be from. Swaps in perspective will be marked by bars._

Chapter 1: The Attack

Noise woke Yami. He had been resting in shadow form curled protectively around the cot where his elf slept peacefully. He listened to the noise, people were moving around outside, and the taste of their fear ran through him setting up the familiar throb in his mind.

Yami was about to investigate when the door to the small room snapped open and she stepped through. He drew his shadows into his human form, the movement causing her to hesitate. A sound that he couldn't hear caused her head to turn, glowing sapphire eyes wide with fear. Yami moved forwards one hand extended, but she brushed past him and scooped up the child who still slept in the cot. Her head turned to look at him and understanding the silent message Yami followed her, flowing back into shadow form as he moved.

They were moving through the forest swiftly, she ran with all the speed that was intrinsic of her race. Yami was hard pressed to keep up despite being unburdened. Finally she stopped, her head turned keen eyes seeking the darkness for whatever was causing the fear in the village.

She bent and carefully laid her child in the hollow between two roots in a great oak tree. The tree shifted slightly, drawing its roots into a curved bowl to protect the boy.

Then she turned those ever-bright eyes to Yami, "Take care of him please...he is everything." Her words were nothing more than a tune on the breeze as she backed away. Yami hummed his affirmation and wrapped his shadow form around the waking elf child. He watched as she fled, leading whatever hunted the village away from him.

Yami didn't know how long he had kept watch, there had been screams and cries from the village faint though they were. Now all sounds had stopped. The child was fighting his shadowy embrace with all his tiny strength, but Yami held him still, he had to keep him here until she returned. As Yami's thoughts turned to her his attentive hold on her child slipped and the elf leapt up and ran.

Yami streaked after him, but the child could move as fast as his mother. Yami was unable to catch up until they had reached the village, Yami glanced around, the elf child stood next to the body of an adult elf; it was dead. Yami moved closer and tried to draw the child from the still form, but he was determined to stay there.

Yami settled back unsure what to do; he was so new to this that he was still wary of the tiny creature who had ensnared him. Yami stretched out his senses, there was no one alive in his territory; all the elves were gone.

He scoured the village swiftly, checking each of the dead bodies. When he returned to the child he was sure, neither she nor her mate were here. At least half of the village were not present, he didn't know what to do. Why had she not returned?

Yami shifted and considered his options, he had to get the elf child to someone who could care for him; as much as he loved the child Yami didn't have the capacity to provide him with what he needed.

Unfortunately only one idea came to mind and it was not one which made Yami happy, and it was certainly not a plan which could possibly be long term. There was an elfin village outside of his territory. They were friendly and he knew one elf that would be happy to take the child on. The big problem was that the elf in question was bound to another Shade, one that Yami didn't get on with.

Shades were solitary creatures by nature, but Yami and this particular Shade had a history. Their territories now bordered each other and they didn't cross them, ever. Yami looked at the elf and sighed, he had no choice. "Come Little One, we must go now." His voice came from his shadows as a soft velvety purr. The child rose from where he sat and look at him. Blue tears filled his bright eyes and then he was running again, but not in the direction that Yami needed him to run in.

Yami gave chase, mentally calling out to his fleeing charge, the elf-child didn't slow and Yami knew better than to attempt to stop him. The boy's magic was incredibly powerful and he was distraught. Yami assumed that he would stop soon, but the elf seemed to know where he was going and was determined to get there. The Shade was getting nervous, they were nearing the outer reaches of his territory and heading towards human regions.

Within a few hours Yami began to sense the press of human magic, the anti-Shade spells designed to keep out his kin-folk. But the child was still running and Yami had sworn to protect him. The anti-Shade spells tightened around him searing his extremities, but he forced his way through them. The spells twisted and squeezed him crushing him with the weight of a mountain, but finally gave under his magic and will-power and Yami leapt after the boy.

Yami flashed through the forest so focused on the fleet-footed child that he payed no mind to the creatures and magic around him. The forests ended and the elf raced onto grass. Yami was very nervous now, the child was heading for the human's stone building. They were far out of his territory and this place stunk of human magic.

The elf ran up the stone steps and into the building, Yami followed closely, there were sounds from a room ahead of them, the doors were slightly open and the elf slid through them. Yami flowed his shadows in after him, but instead of following closely he shot upwards and hid in a dark corner where he could watch without being observed. Human wizards were not fond of Shades and though their magic was highly ineffective against him fighting this room full of humans would potentially put his elf in danger.

The elf child had stopped in the centre of the room, and every single human was staring at him. Yami noted without interest that most of the humans were young, there seemed to only be a small population of adults all gathered in one area. Slowly the elf turned and made his way towards one of the human children. A male, with black hair and bright green eyes.

* * *

_The Shade's in this story are not like the ones in Eragon, they are not humans with spirits inside of them, more will be explained about them later in the story so bear with me._


	2. The Arrival

Chapter 2: The Arrival

Harry peered along the teacher's table, but there was definitely no sign of Hagrid. Instead his eyes caught a woman talking to Dumbledore. It wasn't until she turned to face the students that Harry recognised her. It was hard not to with her distinctive pink cardigan and wide toad-like mouth, not to mention that horrific bow on her head. It was the woman from his trial.

"That woman next to Dumbledore." Harry pointed and Hermione and Ron turned to look. "She was at my trial, she works for Fudge. What is she doing here?"

Hermione's lips narrowed. "She can't be." Her eyes sought along the teachers table. Before she could let them in on her suspicions Professor Grubby-Plank came in and settled in Hagrid's usual place. The first years had arrived.

Professor McGonagall brought out the Sorting Hat and placed it on its stool, the brim opened and it began to sing. Harry didn't pay too close attention to the song. Instead he was watching the Ministry woman wondering what she could possibly be doing here, and hoping it wasn't what he was thinking it was. Harry watched as the Sorting progressed, applauding in each of his new house-mates despite the odd looks some of them gave him.

Finally Dumbledore rose and lifted his hands. "To our new comers, welcome, to our old hands welcome back. There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in." There were appreciative noises as the food appeared.

Harry piled up his plate and ate until his stomach felt like it was going to explode. Despite this he had nothing like the pile Ron went through. Harry still wasn't sure where his friend put all the food he ate.

Harry sat back feeling contently sleepy as the food disappeared and Dumbledore got to his feet again. At least some things were still the same. "A few reminders to begin with. First years take note that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, some of our older students will do well to remember the fact also. Mr. Filch would like me to remind you that magic in the hallways between classes is forbidden, as are several other items that can be found listed on Mr. Filch's office door.  
We have two staffing changes this year, firstly I would like to welcome back Professor Grubby-Plank who will be taking Care of Magic Creatures and please give a warm welcome to Professor Umbridge our new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher." The applause was considerably less than warm, but Dumbledore went on. "Now trials for the Quidditch teams will be..." He broke off as Umbridge got to her feet with a soft cough, _hem hem._

Dumbledore looked surprised for only a moment before sitting and turning his attention to her. Murmurs went around the room; Umbridge certainly wasn't making a good start for herself.

As she began to speak Harry felt his mind tune out, and from what he could see everyone else was doing the same thing. Hermione seemed to be the only one who was paying any kind of attention. Harry frowned down at his cup thinking things over. The increasing numbers of whispers from the other students were direct at him he knew, but he felt odd as though something was calling him.

It was then that Harry heard the crying, it was a soft heartbreaking sound of utter agony. The whispers had increased and Ron elbowed him. Harry turned to look with everyone else.

Standing in between the two tables was a child. He was the single most beautiful thing Harry had ever seen. The boy didn't look to be more than five years old, tiny and slim he wore green-grey clothing that was ripped and torn.

By far the most unusual thing about him was his colouring. His hair was tri-coloured, black tipped with violet, with long golden strands curled around his pale dirt stained cheeks. Through his fringe peered a pair of glowing amethyst eyes that were so big they seemed to take up half his face, those breath-taking eyes dripped blue tears as they slowly scanned the tables.

Harry felt an odd tug somewhere in his stomach as the child's strange eyes found him. The boy took a few uncertain steps towards Harry, lifting a hand to rub the tears from his cheeks. When he was standing right in front of him Harry picked the child up startled by his feather-like weight. The boy gave a soft sigh of delight and laid his head on Harry's shoulder, his eyes falling closed.

It was only then that Harry realised that everyone in the Great Hall was watching him. Great this was just what he needed, more attention. Whispering started again and Harry turned towards Dumbledore, "Please return to your seat Harry and come and see me after Professor Umbridge has finished her speech." Harry nodded and sat arranging the boy comfortably on his lap.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOO  
OOO

Yami turned his attention to the elf child. He had come all this way to sire-bond with a human? Yami decided that he understood elves even less than he understood humans.

The child tilted its bright eyes up to him and hummed a few low notes. To a human the sounds would have been nothing but pleasant noises, but to the Shade who understood the elves music based language they meant for him to remain nearby, but hidden. He settled down to wait.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOO  
OOO

People were filing out of the Great Hall, but Harry was making his way up to the teachers table, the child held protectively to his chest. Hermione and Ron had to show the first years up to the dorms, but Harry had promised to fill them in on everything that happened.

Dumbledore studied him with more attention than he had shown since the hearing. "May I see the boy?" He asked most of the other teachers were watching with interest, Umbridge with snobby disgust. Harry was a little reluctant to hand the child over, but after a moment's hesitation he did so. Dumbledore balanced the boy on his knee and very gently brushed his strange hair from his ears. Harry blinked in surprise. The tiny boy's ears were sharply pointed at the tip. Harry frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Dumbledore smiled gently down at the boy and bounced him slightly, resulting in a series of bubbly giggles that made Harry smile. "Indeed not. Well Harry you are now the proud adoptive father of an elfin child."

Harry blinked "A what?" Dumbledore continued smiling downwards, no longer looking at Harry as the little boy began to play with Dumbledore's long beard. "Elves are race who inhabit a few of the larger and older forests in the world, they are distantly related to our House Elves.  
They are powerful magical creatures, but very little is known about them. What is known is that their children remain so for about the length of one human life time. During this time they need constant care and attention they need _something_ from their parents to allow them to survive. If their parents are killed or lost then the child will die unless it finds a surrogate. I know of only one case where an elfin child has chosen a human as its new parent. You will find his memoirs in the Library, his name was Richard Arkano. I recommend that you read them."

"So I have to keep him." Glowing eyes turned to him and for a moment they filled with tears again. Horrified that he would start crying again Harry babbled out, "I don't mean that, I just...I don't think I'm the best person to do this, couldn't you take him Professor?"

Dumbledore peered over his half-moon glasses, "I'm afraid not Harry, he has chosen you and so only you will do. Don't worry elfin children are rumoured to bring great luck to the people around them. Elves are also among the most powerful magical creatures, so I have no doubt that if you leave him somewhere he will find you again. However think of this Harry. If you refuse to care for him, he will die, that is a surety."

Harry swallowed and looked into the child's huge sad eyes. Then he grinned, "Alright then, what's one more thing, maybe he will be lucky and everything will go well this year?" As he picked the now smiling boy up again he gave Umbridge and Snape a triumphant look and hurried out of the hall. The teachers turned to each other discussing the new development, and everyone missed the dark shadow which detached itself from the roof and followed Harry out of the room.

Hermione and Ron were waiting in the empty common room, Harry had met up with Neville as he reached the portrait and now his fellow Gryffindor hurried past him up to the dorms.

Harry set his new ward on the couch carefully and explained everything to his two friends. Ron nodded sagely when Harry mention elves and Hermione promised to look up the memoirs Dumbledore had suggested. With a final goodnight they split and headed for the dorms. Seamus, Dean and Neville were busy spreading things around their beds in no particular order. "Hi guys." Harry said, the elf child had trotted after him and was now climbing onto the bed. "Hey Harry, how were your holiday's?" Dean asked.

"Not bad. Yours?" Harry figured that explanations as to the true horrors of his holiday's were not really needed or wanted.

"Okay I guess. Better than Seamus' anyway." Dean replied

"What happened?" Harry asked turning to the other Gryffindor.

"Mam didn't want me to come back this year." Seamus said without looking at Harry. Harry had to say he was glad. Harry had known that his would happen, but despite this fact his temper rose back to the surface. "Of course doesn't want you near the nutter." He snarled.

The room had gone very quiet and Harry didn't bother to reel in his anger, instead he looked at the elf child who now slept peacefully, curled up near Harry's pillow. Wishing he were able to be that calm Harry changed his clothes. The others were watching him warily. Ron padded over in his pyjamas, "So what are you going to call him?"

Harry blinked he hadn't even thought of names. The boy was either unable or unwilling to speak; he just hoped that Hermione's research would tell him something about how to take care of the tiny creature. "I don't know, I guess we will have to come up with some names and see if he likes any of them." He said in answer to Ron's question.

Harry climbed carefully into bed and as he settled down with his head on the pillow the elf opened his glowing eyes and whispered in a voice like a silver chime in the distance. "I am Yugi."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOO  
OOO

As soon as the human child was asleep the elf child lifted its head and sung another low series of notes. Yami shifted uncomfortably, he wanted Yami to go to the other village and collect some clothing for him. Yami had several reasons for not wanting to go. The other Shade was the primary reason, but he also wasn't comfortable with leaving Yugi here alone with a human who had a strange taint on him. The tainting was something that Yami almost recognised and certainly didn't trust. But the elf was insistent and piercing. Yami gave in and flashed out of the building, heading for the village.

* * *

_Yay Bakura next chapter, he won't feature much in this story, but I had to have him in here at least once, he's such a great character. Glad I finally properly introduced our little hero, calling him 'the child' all the time was repetitive and made my hands hurt._

_My inspiration for the elves comes from the master of all things elfin, Tolkien, with a few additives so I can actually have a story._


	3. A Wary Meeting

_Yay I worked out to name my chapters, Shyranae: 1 Technology: so far in front in the score it is no longer war, it's annihilation._

_I've been writing quite a bit this week, so I've decided to update early._

_Thank you to my reviewers you encourage me to greater things. _

_There won't be much mindspeech, just a little between Yami and Yugi once in a while, but I will use /words/ for mindspeech either way._

Chapter 3: A Wary Meeting

Yami flitted over the forest quickly. The sun was rising behind him and his promise to her urged him to return to Yugi, but the elf's instructions were pushing him away. He focused on the second urge. The faster he did this the faster he would be back at the humans building, though he was dreading having to cross those spells again.

Yami sensed the instant he crossed into the other Shades territory, and experience told him that the other would have sensed him and would be heading in his direction. Yami dropped to the forest floor and waited. He knew that he was going to have to fight the coming Shade, and was looking forward to it. It had been years since Yami had last seen the other Shade, they tended to avoid each other. Their last meeting had resulted the total annihilation of a human city.

He waited for the few tense minutes it took for the other Shade to travel from the village to the outskirts of his territory where Yami waited. The slight shift of the shadows under the trees the only sign of the others arrival. Yami watched as he was circled swiftly. He readied himself drawing his shadows into a tight ball and then the other Shade lunged for him.

Shade fighting was normally short and vicious. In raw strength Yami was the stronger of the two, but his enemy was faster and a nasty fighter. That was the reason his territory was so large, not many creatures were willing to take him on. They lashed at each other with waves of magic. Trees and rocks were ripped and battered, explosions ripping out chunks of earth. After a few minutes, there was a large clearing where it was unlikely that anything would grow for a long while and the other Shade managed to push Yami back cross the border of his territory.

Yami settled in the open and eased himself into his human form. It wasn't easy after using so much magic and being hit with just as much. After a moment the other Shade took the mirror form of his elfin bond-mate. A lithe slender figure with the remarkably handsome features of an elf topped with long white hair. The attractive appearance only marred by an elder Shade's distinctive narrow red eyes. Yami was shorter in stature, though his body contained a considerable amount of physical strength for all its slimness. Like the other Shade he took the mirror form of his elf-mate, Yugi, tri-coloured locks and all.

"Yami." The other snarled. It was a blank statement of hatred as well as a question.

"Bakura." Yami replied, turning slowly as the other paced in front of him. The fact that they had taken human-form near each other told of a certain level of trust between them, but they were both on edge despite the border between them.

"What are you doing in my territory, lost or suicidal?" Bakura sneered.

"The village was attacked last night." Yami replied blankly.

"I know. We discovered it a few hours ago. We assumed that those who had not been killed had fled and yet I find you here." Though Bakura spoke as though he had been there Yami knew that it was his elf that made the discovery, Shades didn't generally leave their territories.

"She hid us. I think she and her mate ran, but Yugi is still here. He has sire-bound a human and I must remain with him, but he needs certain things. Will you take me to your village and let me speak with your mate?" Yami knew he was pushing Bakura too quickly, but his promise tugged at him.

Bakura hissed faintly and his body partially wafted away. Yami readied himself for another fight allowing his own form to fade slightly, but after a moment Bakura nodded and turned, his body dissolving quickly as he led the way. Yami followed swiftly, his shadow form flitted through the green after the faint shadow ahead of him.

As far as he knew Bakura was the only other Shade to have been bonded to an elf or any other creature for that matter. It was a new thing to Yami, but Bakura had three hundred years of practice, the intervening years had not dulled the other Shade's violent nature though. The bond to their elves was strange it allowed mental communication between the two partners over distance and Yami could only assume that it was the elf's doing that Bakura was taking him to the village rather than the pair of them fighting to the death. As much fun as that would be.

When they finally reached the village at the centre of his territory, Bakura's elf was waiting. Ryou was a slender pale elf and yet like all his kin he blended into the forest as though he were a part of it. He watched with concern as the two of them took human form again. "Yami, what happened?"

He shrugged, "Yugi needs some clothing."

Ryou gave him a long look, his soft brown eyes serious. Yami had not answered the question, but he nodded and hurried back towards his Shades had to run to keep pace with the elf's graceful stride. Ryou packed swiftly and neatly, Yami didn't pay attention to what, an elf knew what an elf needed.

Yami assumed that Bakura had passed on everything that Yami had told him to Ryou, so he kept his eye on the Shade who leant against the door watching him right back. Without really realising it Yami planned an attack on Bakura, picking the direction and means that would give him the upper hand fast enough to catch him by surprise. His plans were interrupted by Ryou handing over a very full bag. "Can you carry this?"

Yami nodded curtly without breaking eye contact with Bakura and took it, as with all elfin things despite its size it did not weigh much. Ryou shifted, as though he were about to hug Yami, but thought better of it and spoke instead, "Be careful, humans are dangerous. I doubt they will be able harm either of you, but I wouldn't put it past them to try."

Yami decided to take the advice as kindness, but he had come up against human wizards before so he knew what he was doing. Yami slid into his shadow form easily, wrapping the bag within himself and headed back to the human building as fast as he could, Bakura's hiss followed him. Yami didn't relax totally until he was out of Bakura's large territory and even then he had to ready himself for crossing those accursed spells again.

Yami slid into the room where Yugi had spent the night and glanced around, he needed to place the bag where Yugi would be able to find it, but he had no idea which was the bed that was his, they all looked the same and the human scent completely masked Yugi's own sweeter smell. He swirled around the room, trying to pick up something. Finally Yami gave up and reached along the bond to Yugi. /Where?/

The elf sent him a mental picture of the room Yami was currently in and indicated where it was he slept. Yami placed the bag down and then slid his shadows into a dark corner. Yugi was now close enough that Yami could get to him if there were problems, but the Shade was tired. Having to cross those spells twice within a day had exhausted him.

* * *

_There will be no Yaoi or romance in this story, I like a little bit but I suck at writing it._

_I noticed a slight inconsistency; I have the Shade's taking 'human form' even though Yami and Bakura are taking the form of elves. Still as no one has said anything I guess you all get the point, maybe I'm just being overly picky._


	4. The Worst First Day in History

_Until my plans for world domination take effect I own none of these characters. _

_Monday's timetable within this story will be the only day that the timetable will be the same, there is nothing you can do to make that day worse. All the other days will be altered to suit my purposes._

Chapter 4: The Worst First Day in History

When Harry woke the next morning Seamus didn't even look at him. Yugi sat and watched him dress with interest, the elf still wore the torn grey-green clothing he had arrived in, but he showed no desire to change. Not that Harry had anything that would fit him anyway.

Ron joined him on the stairs. "So I thought up some names that we could try for him."

Harry shook his head, stopping Ron's recital in its tracks, "His name is Yugi, he told me last night."

Ron blinked, "Oh, okay then, so he can talk?" He sounded slightly dissapointed.

Harry shrugged. He was concentrating on balancing. He wasn't used to carrying a kid on one hip, "I guess so, he hasn't said anything since then though." They both looked at the elf. He looked back at them and then grinned; his smile was so big it took up everything of his face that wasn't already taken up by his huge eyes. That smile made Harry grin and feel as though everything in the world was just fine.

They found Hermione at the Gryffindor table reading a thick leather bound book which she had propped up against her glass. "Hey Hermione, are those the memoirs?" Harry asked putting Yugi down. The elf leant forwards and sniffed at the food, finally selecting a piece of toast which he proceeded to dip into the jam and eat.

Hermione glanced at him and nodded, "Yes and it's very interesting, basically Arkano work for the Ministry as an Auror. One day during a raid on a suspected Dark Wizard's house he found a child. He didn't realise that she was elfin so since they couldn't find her family and she didn't belong to the dark wizard he turned her over to St. Mungo's. A few days later she turned up again, this time in his house. Somehow she managed to convince him to keep her, everything he learnt about elves he learnt from her. That is as far I have gotten, it is really interesting though. According to Arkano the Ministry doesn't recognise elfin magic as magic because it is based on raw elemental power, and as far as he knew it was totally different to House Elf magic as well."

Harry glanced down at Yugi; the boy was trying to lick strawberry jam off his nose. Harry grinned and wiped it off with a napkin. Yugi glanced up and smiled at him, before turning back to his toast humming gently to himself. "Does it say anything about not them speaking?"

Hermione shook her head, "Not yet, but I have only just got to the part of his memoirs that concern Marnia, that was the name of his elfin child."

Harry nodded and noticed Angelina marching up to him. "Hey Angelina."

Angelina apparently wasn't out for small talk and lunged straight into her speech. "Hello Harry, look I've been made Quidditch captain this year, but we need to try out for a new Keeper. So trials are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there to make sure the new person fits in." Harry nodded his spirits lifting at the thought of his beloved game, but further conversation was interrupted by the post owls arrival.

Hermione set aside the memoirs to pick up her Daily Prophet and she set to reading it a frown on her face. The sight of the paper brought back the depressed feeling and Harry stared moodily at his breakfast, poking it unenthusiastically.

That feeling was only increased when McGonagall handed out their timetables. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence against the Dark Arts all in one day." Ron moaned. Harry crumpled the offending sheet of parchment into his bag before picking it and Yugi up.

History of Magic turned out to be just as boring this year as it had been for the last four. Harry amused himself through the lesson alternately playing hangman with Ron and watching Yugi. The elf sat at his feet, doing something serious with a piece of parchment, one of Harry's quills and a ball of fluff. Hermione glared at them both as they exited the classroom, "How do you expect to pass if you don't even try to pay attention?"

"We don't." Harry said. Yugi was trotting ahead of them, clearing a path as people moved out of his way without actually seeming to pay attention. Hermione spent their whole break reading intently through Arkano's memoirs, once in a while glancing over at Yugi where he dozed in the weak sunlight.

They made their way down to the dungeons. Harry glanced around and murmured to Ron, "I think Snape has managed to make this place more horrible than last year."

Ron snorted in an effort not to laugh too hard as the Potions Master swept into the room, black robes billowing. "This is your OWL year, for many of you that means this is your last year, as I only take the best for my NEWT class." Snape sneered in Harry direction and Harry glared back unable to feel upset over the fact that he would never have to do Potions again.

"Today we will be mixing the Draught of Peace, a common OWL potion, instructions are on the board. Begin." Snape flicked his wand towards the board covering it with writing and the class leapt to work. The potion was as difficult as they came, Harry poked at his fire. The potion within his cauldron was almost right. Well as almost as his potions ever got. Instead of silver vapour his potion was producing grey smoke, and a lot of it. Still there were worse potions, Neville's was the consistency of partially dry cement and Goyles seemed to be moving of its own accord.

Harry blinked through the multi-coloured cloud that filled the room and looked up at the board for the next few instructions. There was a soft musical cough from below his table. Harry frowned and ducked down. Yugi was looking at him. "You are not very good at this are you?" He murmured.

Harry stared, "Why don't you speak to anyone else?" The tiny elf shrugged and crawled out from under the bench. He raised his hands.

"I have to finish this potion." Harry said about to stand back up. Yugi's eyes narrowed adorably, the kid really couldn't pull of a glare.

Harry sighed and picked Yugi up settling him on his hip as he turned his attention back to the instructions, how he was going to manage to finish while holding Yugi was a mystery to him.

Yugi had other ideas, as Harry leant forwards to try and read the board better Yugi opened his mouth and sung a single low note. It hung in the air and everyone turned to look at him. Snape sneered and stalked over to Harry who was staring at his now perfect potion.

He glanced at Yugi who was smiling happily; Harry guessed this was what Dumbledore had meant by luck. Snape glanced in his cauldron and his sneer increased, "Cheating Potter."

Yugi wriggled in Harry's arms, but Harry kept a strong grip on him. "No Professor." He replied blandly.

"I think you have; _evanesco_." Harry's potion disappeared, "A zero for today's work Potter. Everyone else fill a flagon with your completed potion and place it out the front for marking."

Harry gritted his teeth in an effort not to curse Snape. Hermione looked furious, "He is taking things out on you Harry." She hissed, Harry couldn't find words to agree with her. He shifted Yugi and as he did, the elf buzzed with energy. Harry frowned and was about to dismiss it as nothing when everything in the room fell apart. Flagons shattered, tables collapsed, cauldrons melted and when the dust cleared the room was in a mess.

Snape's dark eyes flashed around the room with a look of absolute fury, trying to pin down whoever had done this. Everyone hurried from the room before the Potion's Master could put any of them in detention. Ron burst into laughter as soon as they were clear of the room, "Whoever managed that is a genius. Wait until Fred and George hear about it."

Hermione however was looking at Yugi with a great deal of interest. "What's wrong Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Something from Arkano's memoirs, he said that once he had accepted Marnia bad things tended to happen to those who did bad things to him."

Harry remembered the energy pulse from Yugi and smiled, "Works for me."

Hermione frowned, "Harry Yugi can't just attack everyone who does something nasty to you, there won't be anyone left in the school if that's the case."

"I don't think it's anyone Hermione." Harry said as they headed for the Great Hall for lunch. "Just those who hurt me, I don't think Yugi would do anything to the people who didn't believe me, just those people who try and attack me. He must have taken Snape vanishing my potion as some kind of attack. If he would talk in front of you then maybe we could get an answer."

Hermione nodded, "I don't think he will, Arkano said that Marnia never talked to anyone but him in the whole time she was with him, and she didn't talk to him all that often either."

Harry turned to Yugi who was back to playing with the quill, "well he is going to have to get used to talking to you two, you're my friends and I'm not going to abandon you just because he doesn't feel talkative." Hermione practically beamed at him. Ron mumbled something into his cup, though his ears were red. Yugi glanced over at Harry, giving him a gentle searching look before nodding faintly.

"Look its mummy Potter." Malfoy's voice sneered from behind him. Harry turned to look at the Slytherin, and Yugi lifted his head up as well, bright eyes gleaming. "Buzz off Malfoy." Harry snapped, he really wasn't in the mood for talking to his rival, privately he was hoping that Yugi would decide to do something to Malfoy as well. That way at least today wouldn't have been totally horrible.

"What Potter no more lies to tell? Oh look the pipsqueak's angry, I'm so scared." Malfoy scoffed, Yugi had indeed gotten to his feet and was standing at his full two feet of height. His glare once again only succeeded in being utterly adorable. Malfoy was laughing and nudging Crabbe who was guffawing stupidly. Everyone had turned to look and a couple of other people were laughing.

Most of the girls were giving Yugi soppy eyes and Harry thought he heard some of them whispering about how cute he was. Yugi lifted one tiny hand and lights began to dance around it, he raised his hand to his lips and blew softly. The lights danced along the breeze and attached to Malfoy before they winked and vanished. He laughed harder, "Ooh the scary lights, what am I going to do? See you Potty." He swaggered off laughing.

Harry turned to Yugi, "Couldn't you have done something more impressive, like turning him into a bug?" Yugi sat back down and pushed his long blonde fringe out of his face. Harry grunted and picked up his bag, "I guess I don't get to pick who gets punished, or how."

As Harry and Ron climbed the ladder up to Divination, the wave of sickly sweet incense nearly knocked them over. Yugi sneezed violently and rubbed his nose. The smell in the North Tower which always left Harry with a headache apparently didn't agree with Yugi either.

Trelawney breezed into the room, "Today we are starting dream interpretations, dreams are an important tool in divining the future. You will begin by using the _Dream Oracle_ to interpret each other's most recent dreams." Trelawney's misty voice didn't help Harry to wake up. Yugi giggled from below the table and looked up, the tassels from the tablecloth were draped over his head, mingling with his tri-coloured hair. Harry grinned before turning back to Ron. "So had any dreams lately?"

* * *

Harry slammed out of the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, and turned down the corridor towards Professor McGonagall's office. Yugi caught up to him halfway down the hallway. "You should not have yelled at her." He said softly, the elf's graceful run kept easy pace with Harry's furious stride. "Are you going to do something about her?" Harry demanded.

"No." Yugi shook his head.

Harry stopped and rounded on him, staring down into Yugi's amethyst eyes. "Why not, you took on Snape and I guess you did something to Malfoy, why not her?"

"Because you incited her attack, I am not here to defend you. You are my parent, you are supposed to protect me. In exchange I can help you where I can, but I cannot fight your battles for you." Yugi said firmly.

"I'm telling the truth." Harry growled at the wall. Why wouldn't people believe him?

"I know." Yugi's voice had become very quiet and his eyes darkened and lowered.

Harry's anger faded slightly, it was hard to be furious when Yugi looked so dejected, "Are you going to start talking to Ron and Hermione?" He was aware that he was changing the subject, but he had to get his mind away from Umbridge.

Yugi shrugged glancing up, "When it is necessary. My people do not speak often, but if you are as close to them as you say then I will do my best."

Harry was about to go on questioning Yugi since he seemed to be in a talkative mood when McGonagall appeared through a door. She started when she saw them. "Potter, what are you doing out here?"

"I was sent." Harry said turning to look at her.

"By who?" her voice held a note of suspicion and she was examining him carefully, taking in Yugi now partly hiding behind Harry's leg.

"Professor Umbridge, I have to give you this note." Harry thrust the paper out towards his teacher.

McGonagall stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. She sat and read the note carefully. "Did you really tell her in front of the entire class that You-Know-Who had returned?" McGonagall asked.

Harry nodded, meeting his strict teachers eyes.

McGonagall sighed and shook her head. "She has given you a week's worth of detentions, starting tonight at five o'clock."

Harry's jaw dropped, "A week, but Professor couldn't you..."

"No and you should be more careful Potter, remember who she reports to."

Harry gritted his teeth, but nodded and got to his feet stiffly. Yugi stood by the door waiting patiently and raised his hands to be picked up. Harry carried the elf down to dinner. His mood was still black, though it dimmed slowly to grey as Yugi began to sing softly in his ear.

* * *

_Is it just me or have other people noticed that when kids play on their own they always look as though everything that they are doing is the single most important thing currently occurring in the world._

_That last bit was a bit rushed, but I am trying to get past the first few chapters as they will be very much like the actual Order of the Phoenix. It will take a few more chapters to really diverge from the story line, at the moment I am setting things up. Please bear with me. _


	5. Nightmares

_Come on people. I will keep writing so long as people keep reading, but some reviews would be nice. Even if they are just pointing out my mistakes. Let me know what you think._

Chapter 5: Nightmares

Yami stirred as the humans returned to the room, he lifted his shadows up to the ceiling once again hiding in the darkness in the corners.

The human boy put Yugi down on the bed the elf had indicated to the Shade earlier. Yugi crawled under the blankets spread out over the bed and began to sing softly. Yami listened carefully to the sounds.

Yugi had noted the bag where Yami had hidden it covered in don't-look-at-me spells and was grateful. He was glad Yami was back and could he please go and find the person who Yugi had marked and scare him a little. Yami was surprised at the request, elves were an infuriatingly peaceful race and Yugi more so than any of the others.

However the Shade was not going to argue, he needed to renew his energies and frightening a human would do well enough.

Yami had to wait until all the humans had fallen asleep. Though wizards were as a general rule ignorant of his shadow form, if one should catch sight of him there would be trouble, and Yami was in no mood or state to cross the spells around this building again.

He flowed down the corridors towards the mark of Yugi's magic, though he was barely able to sense it amongst all this human magic. Elfin magic was designed to blend in, not stand out.

Finally Yami slid through an opening into the room where the marked human lay. He hovered for a moment considering what form of fright he should use. Finally he decided that the best for both reasons would be pure fear. Yami formed his shadows only partially into human form; something that was particularly difficult to do. He allowed his edges to blur with the darkness in the room, but leaving his blood red eyes glowing in the dimness.

Once these preparations were ready he leant over the marked human and prodded him delicately, just enough to make him wake. The wizard woke and caught sight of him, for a moment there was only a stunned terror that rapidly re-filled the Shade's energy reserves. Then the child hurtled upwards screaming, "SHADE!"

Instantly Yami dissolved his human form and rose to the ceiling, hiding perfectly. The boy's shout had woken all the others in the room and they were all staring around in sleepy confusion. Yami did not understand the desire to sleep as humans did, to switch your attention off completely was to bare your back to your enemies. However it did present some interesting opportunities, particularly in this case.

Yami remained perfectly still.

The marked human was on his feet with his wand in the air, a light in the tip. "There was a Shade in here." The wand flashed around, and Yami allowed his shadows to flicker in time to the others around him.

"Don't be ridiculous Malfoy, there are the best anti-Shade spells available on Hogwarts, it was just a dream." The other humans were lying back down, after a long moment the marked human lowered his wand and got back into his bed. He shook himself, probably trying to convince himself that it had been a dream.

Yami dropped back down to eye level and after waiting long enough to allow the human to fall asleep again he repeated the process.

Yami kept it up all night, and every time the human leapt up, screaming terror. He was getting more frantic and the others in the room were getting angrier at him. Energy was literally pouring into the Shade and it was requiring all his willpower to prevent himself from laughing. The advantage to this plan was that the human had been raised to be afraid of Shade's and as a result his reactions were deeply ingrained, his fear was making him increasingly illogical. Towards the morning the human child was simply lying awake, and once in a while Yami would just let his eyes appear from the shadows, causing the young human to cringe and whimper in fear.

As the sun touched the horizon Yami left the room and made his way outside of the building back to where Yugi slept.. There were fewer shadows for him to hide in during the day, but he wanted to keep a better eye on his little bond-mate today. Yami could sense unease in the elf and he needed to work out what it was that was causing the sensation.

* * *

_Short one this time, but a bit of Malfoy torture that's always fun._

_I do have one question, not entirely to see if I can get a response out of my readers. I won't put Kaiba in this story, sorry to his fans, but I just can't imagine him in this scenario. But does anyone want Malik to appear, I have a way that I can work him in, and it may prove to be useful but I will only do it if people want me to. _

_Otherwise as I say in my profile, I may kill off characters to keep them at an even and handlable number._


	6. Detention

_And the votes are in...and it's a tie, so I've made an executive decision and for the moment there will be no Malik. He may appear later, or in upcoming years who knows._

_There is a lot of chopping and changing in this chapter, so watch out. I've tried to space things out more to help._

_Without further ado:_

Chapter 6: Detention

Harry woke with a feeling of impending doom.

The day started out by politely confirming his feelings. Harry had a mountain of homework already and Flitwick and McGonagall only added their own huge piles. Along with more speeches about how important this year was going to be.

By lunch Harry's heart was racing and he was certain that he was going to fail. By the time they reached Care of Magical Creatures he just wanted to go back to bed. When they had all gathered around a table covered in sticks that Harry noticed that the Slytherin's were all looking tired and annoyed. He nudged Ron and pointed. "What's up with them?"

Ron peered around Hermione. "Dunno, but Malfoy looks like he's about to throw up."

Ron was right, the pale haired Slytherin was as white as a sheet and he twitched whenever someone moved suddenly around him. Harry looked over at Yugi who had followed Hermione and was watching her pick up a Bowtruckle from the table. "Maybe that was his punishment. You know whatever Yugi did yesterday maybe it took some time to happen."

Ron grinned, "I hope so, cause that means that he won't bother us anymore."

"Who won't?" Hermione asked as she set the Bowtruckle down on the ground and held him still so they could start drawing. Harry pointed out Malfoy and explained his theory. Hermione nodded, "It's possible, and I think I know what he did. I heard some of the other Slytherin's talking. Apparently Malfoy kept waking them up screaming that there was a Shade in their dorms."

Ron gaped and then grinned, "Cool, if Yugi can mimic a Shade, that'll keep Malfoy awake and away from us."

Harry was completely confused, "What's a Shade?"

To his absolute astonishment, Ron answered. "They're living shadows, really dark magic that live off human fear and anger."

"Like a dementor?" Harry wasn't really paying attention to his drawing and it was starting to look less like a Bowtruckle and more like a game of hangman.

"Nah, dementors suck the good feelings out of you. Shades use their magic to make you feel scared or angry. They tend to gather around places where people are stressed."

"Are there any here? Cause I think I'm stressed enough to attract them"

This time Hermione answered, "No, most wizard buildings have anti-Shade spells on them. Hogwarts has heaps of them. Shades kill people Harry. If they stay in an area for too long, the people just die. As soon as the spells were discovered they were placed around the school."

Yugi muttered something to himself in a low sing song tone, breaking the tension. He was lying on his stomach watching the Bowtruckle, and he broke into a stream of chattering as the Bowtruckle made a bid for freedom when Hermione tried to pass it to Harry. To Harry's amusement the Bowtruckle looked ashamed of itself and went still.

Harry's eyes caught Hagrid's hut, he wondered where their friend was.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

It had been a while since Yami had been required to hide in the daylight.

So far there had been nothing to distress Yugi, though his parent didn't look overly happy and indeed Yami was getting a good deal of energy from the humans he was following around. The humans had spent a long time listening to the adults talking. At first Yami had made an effort to listen, but the topics did not interest him.

When they finally emerged from the stone building into the sunlight, Yami's difficulties increased. There were no shadows here at all. Still the Shade found himself enjoying himself. After all it was a game. If he was spotted he would lose and Yami didn't like losing.

The marked human was here now, he was not in good shape. Humans didn't do well around Shades their magic fought with each other. And as Shade magic was stronger than human magic, the humans often died as a result.

Spending a night with Yami had certainly not been good for the human. The thought cheered Yami immensely. He still had no idea of what was upsetting Yugi, but at least he knew that now he was within the circle of spells he would be able to move around this building without being detected or hurt.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

By the time five o'clock came around Harry felt like he had been repeatedly beaten up by a troll. He hauled his bag and Yugi up to Umbidge's office. The room had been transformed. Harry had seen four different teachers in this office, but he had never seen it so horrific. There was pink everywhere, doilies and little tablecloths, and all over the walls were ornamental plates of ugly kittens pacing or purring.

_Hem hem._ Harry whirled; Umbridge was standing near a desk smiling at him. "I don't think your little friend needs to be here Mr. Potter. He will not come to any more detentions after this, and for this one he will remain outside."

Harry gritted his teeth, but turned and set Yugi on the floor outside the room. "Wait here, I won't be long." He gave Yugi a quill, ink and some parchment. The elf didn't look distressed, but neither did he look happy. Harry went back into the office and sat at the table his hated teacher indicated. "You will be writing lines for me Mr Potter and you will be using a special quill of mine." She produced a thin black quill, "Now you will write 'I will not tell lies'"

"How many times?" Harry asked. His voice was almost polite, only wavering slightly.

"Until it sinks in." Her smile widened, now nearly spreading from one ear to the other. Harry set the quill to the paper and began to write, instantly pain lanced up his hand. He gritted his teeth and kept writing.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yugi was distressed again. Yami settled his shadows next to the elf. He resisted the temptation to take human form and just nudged the child gently until he smiled and twined his fingers through Yami's shadows. /What is wrong?/ Yami asked.

Yugi turned and looked at the door beside him. Yami filtered some of his shadows under the door and examined the room inside. Yugi's human parent was inside and he was angry. The other human in the room was an adult, a female; she was giving off a feeling of triumphant happiness.

Yami withdrew before either human could notice him. He gave off a confused feeling to the elf. Yugi sighed, /She is hurting him, but I cannot help because he brought it upon himself/.

Yami purred softly and tightened around his bond-mate comfortingly. Yugi, like all elves, liked people to be happy and hurting people made him sad, poor gentle soul. The Shade toyed with the quill, making it dance lightly in the air, and scrawl across the paper leaving delicate patterns. Yugi smiled and watched occasionally reaching out to touch the tip of the quill making it dance a different way.

Finally Yami sensed movement in the room so he released the feather and rose into the shadows. The human came out and gave Yugi a wan smile. He was treating one of his hands carefully and he was leaking anger. Yami followed them back to their sleeping room.

Yami settled in the corner again, as he did the human twitched and stared at him. Yami kept as still as he could, had he been seen? Yugi poked the young human and he blinked bright green eyes and turned away, shaking his head slightly. Yami relaxed and settled down, it was fortunate that Yugi slept in the same room as these humans, the elf's warm presence opposed the dangers that humans faced when simply existing near a Shade.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry woke with a sick feeling in his stomach. Yugi was sitting on the end of his bed watching him thoughtfully, over his spiky hair Harry could see Ron getting dressed. Nothing would have made him happier than if he could have gone back to sleep, at least until this week was over. However Yugi seemed to have other ideas, the elf was lifting up the sheets at the bottom of Harry's bed and after giving Harry one more long look, he put a very cold pair of hands on Harry's warm feet. Harry catapulted himself out of bed with a yelp. Ron jerked around, surprised. "What?"

"Damn you have cold hands!" Harry gasped at Yugi who was now smiling innocently.

Ron stared at him blankly, and then gaped as Yugi said in his soft musically accented voice, "I can adjust my body temperature, you needed to get up."

"He talked." Ron stammered. Yugi giggled in response to the stunned look on the red-head's face.

"You asked me to talk to your friends as though they were you, so I am." He shrugged and slid from the bed and looked up at both of them. Yugi gave them both a simple sweet smile that lit up his whole face and trotted towards the door. As Harry got dressed he watched Ron, his friend seemed a bit overwrought at having the beautiful little elf talk to him.

As they made their way down to breakfast Harry questioned Yugi, "So can you do something about all the homework that seems to be amassing in my bag?"

Yugi laughed softly, "Short of just making the paper disappear nothing, sorry."

"You can't help me research it? Or write them for me?" Harry looked over his shoulder at him. Yugi was currently riding on his shoulders, his fingers twined carefully into Harry's hair. The elf shook his head, his own long hair swinging. Ron stared at him, "So what did you do to Malfoy?" Yugi tilted his head, but was spared answering by Hermione's arrival. She looked excited and was carrying Arkano's memoirs under her arm. She burst into speech as soon as she fell into step with them. "This really is incredibly fascinating. By the end of his life Arkano was the leading expert of elfin lifestyle, there can't have been much he didn't know about them."

Harry smiled, "Have you finished, so you can tell me what the important parts to read are?"

Hermione frowned at him. "You should really read it all."

"Hermione, I have enough work and that will take me ages to read, just summarise it for me." Harry shrugged causing Yugi to giggle.

Hermione kept up her glare for a moment longer before giving in. "Well, other than what I've already told you there isn't much you really need to know about how to raise Yugi. Even as children elves are fairly self sufficient, they can feed and fend for themselves. It's just that _something_ that Dumbledore mentioned they need. I think I know what it is too. Arkano only ever mentioned it as something Marnia needed, but I think it's that they need to be loved."

Harry stared at her, "So why did he need to attach to me, surely another elf would have been better?"

Hermione shrugged, but Harry turned his head to Yugi, the elf was trembling. When Harry caught sight of his face Yugi was crying again. "All gone." He whispered.

Harry swung the elf down and hugged him, "It's alright whatever happened you don't need to think about it again." Yugi's tears slowed and then stopped and he smiled wetly up at Harry, before snuggling down into his chest. They entered the Great Hall. All four slightly shaken, the humans upset for reasons they didn't really understand.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

It had taken all of Yami's self control not to rip Yugi from the human's grasp when they had upset him. The Shade was very disturbed. He had hoped that Yugi would not hold on to his parents. Wherever she and her mate were they obviously couldn't come back.

Yami found a useful patch of shadow to hide in and think. His mind whirled along two paths at once, considering both the problem of where she was and Yugi's choice of parent. The human had reacted appropriately to Yugi's sadness.

The female had come close to being obliterated by Yami for upsetting him in the first place. Yami sensed the humans on the move again and followed, he got the feeling that he was going to get very sick of following these children around all the time.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Five o'clock came around faster than Harry would have liked it to, he was getting nowhere on his homework and these detentions were taking most of his spare time up. After a lot of convincing Yugi had agreed to stay with Hermione in the common room, though Harry could tell that the elf was none too pleased with the decision. Once Harry was in Umbridge's office, he sat down and began to write, remaining completely silent for the hours that she kept him there.

When he arrived back at the common room it was nearly eleven, Yugi was waiting for him. He was sitting on the couch watching the fire and Harry once again caught that glimpse of shadow that didn't seem to move the same way as all the others in the room. But again as soon as he blinked it disappeared. Harry shook his head, his scar was throbbing again, but he ignored it and got out his work. Writing made his hand hurt more and as a result his finished essays were dodgy, but he was too tired and sore to make a better job of it. Finally he picked up Yugi and stumbled up to bed, falling asleep fully clothed.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami had spent the evening exploring their new home. The whole place stunk of human magic, most of it very old and very strong. He had already found out that the pictures on the walls were a part of the magical defences of the building. Some of them had almost caught sight of his shadows and had somehow summoned a non-wizard human.

Luckily like all humans without the benefits of magic running in their veins he was unable to see Yami's shadows. The human soon limped off muttering at the pictures on the walls. Yami followed the lines of magic within the stones as he explored. His only point of reference in his wanderings was Yugi. He could still sense the elf somewhere above him, safe, though not happy.

Yami slid through some gaps in the walls. He was now in a large room where there was a lot of stuff. As usual magic seeped through everything. He was about to head back to Yugi, when he sensed something. It was just on the edge of his senses, but it was familiar. He moved towards the sense and it was then he realised where he had felt the same magic before. A similar taint lived on Yugi's new parent. Only this was much stronger, more concentrated.

Yami backed off, whatever magic it was it was beyond him and every sense he had was telling him to leave, he obeyed his instincts and returned to Yugi by the fastest way possible.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry dragged his exhausted body, throbbing head and bloody hand through the portrait hole. Instantly he was hit with a wall of noise. Ron came and clapped him on the shoulder, "I made the Quidditch team Harry."

Harry managed a smiled that he hoped was appropriate. Apparently it was because Ron grinned back and was swallowed up by the crowd again. Harry pushed through the crowd looking for Hermione and Yugi, who he had left together before his last detention.

He found Hermione knitting more of her elf hats, Yugi on her lap playing with a ball of wool. He had one of Hermione's completed hats on his head. Harry had to smile at the sight, Yugi's tri-coloured hair clashed in the most spectacular way with the multi-coloured wool hat. Hermione smiled back, "Well he is an elf, and he looks cute in it." She said when she noticed what he was looking at.

Harry slumped into the chair next to them. Yugi immediately transferred himself from Hermione's lap to Harry's. The little elf picked up Harry's hand and frowned down at it. He lifted it to eye level and examined the cuts on Harry's hand. Then he buzzed with energy again, just like he had when Snape had vanished Harry's potion. This time however Hermione sensed it too. She glanced around and gathered her hats to her protectively. However nothing exploded and after a tense moment Harry looked down at Yugi and his now not hurting hand. "What did you do?" He asked.

Yugi shrugged and released Harry's hand. He examined it there was no sign of a cut. Hermione gave him a curious look and Harry lifted his hand in explanation, "He healed it."

Hermione's lips parted in an 'oh'. Apparently this meant a lot to her. Harry didn't have the time to ask. He picked up Yugi and headed for bed with the tiny elf once again singing softly.

* * *

_Was it just me or was this a bit of an epic? My biggest problem is finding when to stop. So if I don't stop now this chapter will keep going until the end of the story._

_On that note, remember that last line, cause it will mean a bit more fun. Keep up the reviews, I love getting them (don't we all)._

_Toodles_


	7. Recreation for Shades

_I've decided I like torturing characters, and having someone who enjoys it so much makes it even better. There won't be any blood and gore, mental torture is more my thing. (Wow that makes me seem a little psycho, well I was in an odd mood when I wrote this.)_

Chapter 7: Recreation for Shades

Yami flitted through the castle, he was becoming more accomplished at both finding his way through the maze-like building and avoiding the magical defences. Unfortunately that meant that the game was losing its appeal. Boredom was never a good thing in a Shade.

Yugi's musical request echoed through his mind. "Find her and punish her. She was allowed to discipline him, but not to torture."

Yami was pleased. Yugi had been so upset by his parent's pain that he had put no restrictions on Yami's actions. Yami was good at punishment, the only thing that was stopping him from going overboard and ending with the human female's death was the fact that he had to remain undiscovered. That didn't matter, he would enjoy himself come up with something more... original.

The human female hadn't been marked, so Yami had to hunt through the castle for her. It wasn't difficult, the adult humans could always be found either in the feeding place, or in the rooms where they took the younger humans to talk at them.

It was there that Yami found her now. She wore colours that truly offended Yami's senses to a point where it was actually painful to look at her. He peeked through a crack in her door. She was happy, the sort of happy that gave Shades energy, so good for him, not good for the human children under her control.

Yami observed her for a long time. Eventually she gave a contented little sigh and left the room flicking magic as she went. Yami flowed around the room, checking the magic. There was nothing to harm or offend him, other than the colour scheme of the room.

After a bit of searching he found a box full of the black pens that Yugi's parent had been using. Yami checked out their magic carefully and an idea formed. With a delicacy that most Shades couldn't manage and had taken years for him to master, he unwove the magic while still keeping the spell intact. Yami then rewove it, including in the working a bit of his own power to alter the purpose of the original spell.

The effect would be interesting to say the least. Yami set the box back in the drawer. It was a good thing that humans were so bad at detecting Shade magic because touching anything in his shadow form resulted in a strong imprint; well it was strong to an elf or another Shade.

Yami settled back and examined the room again. It had been a while since he had controlled a territory with humans living in it. Living with elves was different, they didn't take all too kindly to any of his tricks, not that he had needed them. The warm constant flow of energy from their life force was enough that he didn't need the normal emotions required to fuel him. However it could get dull. At least when you had humans in your territory you could play with them. Not that they ever seemed to enjoy the games that Shades made up, still Yami supposed that was the point.

The room was very full. There were things everywhere, many magically orientated, most with purposes unknown to Yami. Another plan began to form in his mind. This would require more strength and a bit more concentration. Yami checked his form, and dropped everything he had to make himself more substantial, but less noticeable. Then he set to work.

He once again unwove the magic, this time he had to lift it from the walls of the building itself, that in itself was difficult. The magic was old and the stones had long since taken up the magic as their own.

After a bit of persuading and tugging Yami managed to pull the threads of magic out and rearrange them the way he wanted them. Yami then laid down his own spells and set the original magic back in place. When he examined the result there appeared to be no trace of Shade magic anywhere. Perfect.

There was a sound from outside the room, Yami gathered himself and dashed into a corner. There, carefully concealed, he could watch and see if his spell would work.

The instant the door opened and the adult female stepped into the room, everything exploded. It was different to the explosion that Yugi had created in the Potions lesson. There it had been neat and tidy, each thing simply falling apart in a way that was most appropriate to what it was.

This was complete and utter chaos.

It was like a hundred miniature bombs had gone off at strategic points in the room to produce the most mess possible. Yami escaped the chaos without being seen, leaving the human standing in gobsmacked horror with only a faint sound of rumbling laughter echoing from nowhere in particular.

* * *

_Gah, I had the best idea for what to do the Umbridge's stuff, it was perfect. But I had the idea at work and by the time I got home, it was gone, I hate it when that happens._

_Sigh, oh well, hope you enjoyed this chapter none the less. It was another short one, but these short chapters let me explain things and set things up for later as well as letting me play with Yami more._


	8. Quidditch Troubles

Chapter 8: Quidditch Troubles

When Harry woke it was early morning, Yugi as usual woke the minute that Harry moved to get up. Yugi's amethyst eyes shone sleepily at Harry, but he crawled out of bed and found a clean shirt for himself. Harry hadn't asked where the new, clean and obviously elfin clothes had come from. He was sure that the answer would only confuse him.

Harry helped Yugi pull the shirt over his spiky hair, before picking him up and carrying the sleepy child down to the common room.

Harry sat down in a chair by the fire. Yugi settled in the chair next to him where he promptly curled up and went back to sleep. Harry pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill and settled down to write to Sirius.

It took Harry a good hour to come up with a letter that gave nothing away to anyone who wasn't in the know. Yugi had slept the whole time, but again when Harry rose he woke. Harry glanced down at him, "You can stay here and sleep, I'm just going to the Owlery." He told Yugi. Harry was suspicious that Yugi was worried that Harry was going to dissappear if Yugi let him out of his sights.

Yugi shook his head and lifted his hands, "Who were you writing to?" Yugi's musical tones were dimmed and slurred slightly by a huge yawn.

Harry pushed open the portrait with some difficulty, his arms being full of elf, and made his way down the corridors. "Sirius, my godfather. I wanted to tell him some things, about my scar hurting and that. I also told him about you."

Yugi tilted his head slightly, "Why have you addressed it to Snuffles if it is for Sirius?"

Harry glanced down at Yugi. It was sometimes hard to remember that Yugi wasn't a wizard and that he had no idea who Sirius Black was, or what he was supposed to have done. "No one is supposed to know that I'm writing to him. He's on the run from the Ministry, they accused him of a murder he didn't commit."

Yugi nodded seriously, "I do not think these Ministry people are very intelligent."

Harry grinned, that was an understatement.

Yugi reached out and touched the letter thoughtfully and though Harry was paying more attention to where he was putting his feet as they were going up the curling staircase to the Owlery, he noticed something twitch around the letter. When Harry jerked his head around trying to catch sight of it, the shadow disappeared. "Is something wrong?" Yugi asked gently, looking around for whatever Harry had seen.

Harry shook his head, "I just keep seeing these flashes of something dark out the corner of my eye." Yugi gave him a blank look and Harry shook himself. "Probably just over tired." He muttered.

Yugi smiled softly and then his big eyes widened even further as they stepped through the door into the Owlery.

Typically there were owls everywhere. Yugi wriggled free of Harry's grip and wandered around the room peering at everything in wonder. Some of the owls swooped down to examine him in turn. Harry grinned and looked around for Hedwig, the snowy owl sailed down and settled on a perch. She held out her leg ready for Harry to attach the letter.

Harry smiled and stroked her back gently. "This is for Sirius, even though it says Snuffles alright." She hooted gently and as soon as the letter was attached she took off and sailed through the window.

Harry had to spend a few minutes looking around the feather filled room for Yugi who had obviously decided that clean clothes were overrated and was now covered from head to toe in feathers and dust. Thick cobwebs were twined into his hair giving him the interesting look of a very tiny old man.

Harry shook his head, "Now you need a bath." He sighed. Yugi was cute and though he was quiet he was good company, but Harry didn't really want to have to be a father to him. As Harry pondered the filthy elf looking up at him he remembered the spell Snape had used to clean his cauldron. "Alright hold on." Harry hoped that he was getting the spell right or the results could be interesting. With a flick of Harry's wand Yugi was clean again.

The elf looked down at himself, "Tickles." He snickered wrapping his arms around himself. Harry picked Yugi up and was just about to head out the door when it opened and Cho stepped through. She seemed just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. "Oh hello."

Harry shifted awkwardly and tried to think of something funny or enlightening to say. However his mind stayed happily blank and Yugi was no use. The elf had his face stuffed into his hands and was laughing so hard that tears were leaking out of his eyes. Cho's eyes settled on Yugi, "He's very cute, does he have a name?" Harry was glad she'd spoken and that she had asked something simple.

"Err yeah, he's Yugi." Harry moved Yugi around so Cho could see his burden properly. It was of course at this point that Yugi decided that he was going to be shy again and hid his face in Harry's shoulder. Cho smiled and him and leant closer. Harry stared at the black curtain of her hair, his breath catching in his throat.

Yugi turned slightly and gave Cho a small shy smile, then his eyes seemed to catch sight of something behind her and his face became a mask of horror. He let loose a single piercing note causing Cho to start back in surprise. "I'm sorry!" Harry glared down at Yugi, who was twisting in an effort to make Harry put him down. Would anyone ever let him have a moment with Cho?

Yugi had now proceeded down the stairs to the Owlery singing furiously to himself. Harry gave Cho an apologetic smile before following him, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

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Yami was distinctly put out, the human female had gotten too close to Yugi for the Shade's liking. As a result of him moving in to push the human away Yugi had told him off. Yami was considerably glad that no one had realised what Yugi's ear piercing notes had actually been.

It was slightly embarrassing to be told off by a small child. So Yami went off in the Shade equivalent of a sulk. He found a large empty area outside and moodily began breaking leaves into tiny pieces. The leaves didn't care but it made him feel better.

OOOOOOOO  
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Harry made his way down to the Great Hall with Yugi in tow. The elf had only partially recovered from his mood and occasionally he would mutter something under his breath. His eyebrows were drawn down in a not overly threatening scowl.

Ron and Hermione were already half way through breakfast. Ron looked pale under his freckles and as soon as Harry sat down he leant over and asked, "Do you think we could go out to the Quidditch pitch and practice a bit before training?"

Harry piled food up on his plate. He offered some to Yugi, but the elf shook his head absently, he seemed to be paying attention to something a long way off. "Sure."

Harry, Ron and Yugi made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. The pitch was clear and inviting, Harry took a deep breath of air and smiled, it would be good to be back up there. Harry glanced down at Yugi as he mounted his broom. "What are you going to do?" Yugi looked up at him and then climbed onto the back of the broom holding onto Harry's robes to prevent himself from slipping.

Harry kicked off from the ground, there was no way he could balance Yugi if he was playing Seeker, however as he was just trying to get goals against Ron with no one else around and no Bludgers he felt confident that Yugi wouldn't fall.

They practiced for a while, Ron was good and he got better the longer they practiced. Harry hadn't needed to worry about Yugi. The elf had a superb sense of balance and seemed to enjoy flying as much as Harry did. Throughout the practice Harry could hear him giggling from his place behind Harry.

When they went back inside for lunch Hermione was listening avidly to Seamus telling her and a small group of Gryffindor's a story, though Seamus was having trouble as he was laughing so hard tears were running down his cheeks.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked and for once Seamus didn't back away, instead he summarised his story again. "Someone blew up Umbridge's office. No one can work out how they did it, but it has to be some spell, because every time she sets foot in there the whole place explodes. Apparently it happened first early this morning and she sent a whole troupe of House Elves in to clean up, but the instant she stepped in again it blew up again. Dean and I were walking past the Defence against the Dark Arts class room and she came out all covered in dust. Whoever managed it should be put up for a school medal."

Harry had to grin along with everyone else. No one seemed overly upset about their newest teachers misfortune. However somewhere in Harry's head he thought about coincidences. Last night had been the first time Yugi had actively made any effort against what Umbridge had been doing to him, and bad things happened to people who hurt Harry.

When Harry and Ron finally made their way down to the pitch again for the real training session Ron was very pale and quiet. His mood was made worse by the presence of the Slytherin team who were watching and jeering loudly. Harry set Yugi on a seat in the stands, next to Hermione and far away from the Slytherins. Harry glared over at them, "I wish they would go away, Ron is nervous enough without them here." He turned and walked off, Yugi immediately followed behind. "No you stay here." Harry said, picking the elf up and depositing him back on the bench. This time when Harry headed back to the grounds Yugi stayed put, but Harry could see he was not happy about it.

They discovered quickly that Yugi was not a fan of Quidditch. He spent the whole practice match wailing in the stands. Usually any noise that Yugi made was clear and sweet and made you want to smile. This noise was more along the lines of someone ripping large sheets of metal apart, while slowly torturing kittens. It set everyone's teeth on edge and half way through practice Angelia flew over to him. "If you don't get him to stop, I'm going to kill him." She was gritting her teeth, her dark eyes narrow.

Harry gave a sheepish smile, "At least it is drowning out the Slytherins." That was true enough. Even their opponents couldn't compete with Yugi's vocal complaints.

Angelina's eyes narrowed further and Harry was certain that she was growling so he turned and made a bee-line for Yugi. As soon as Harry's feet touched the ground, Yugi stopped and smiled up at him. "What are you doing, I need to practice." Harry snapped.

Yugi didn't reply, only lifted his hands up. Harry glared at him and turned his broom, ready to take off again. "If you keep it up, I will lock you in the common room when I practice or play."

Yugi stamped his foot and whined faintly. Harry didn't turn, knowing that if he made eye contact Yugi's huge, sad puppy-dog eyes would melt him.

Harry rejoined his team in the air, everyone looking relieved that the noise had stopped. Fred was hovering near Harry and laughed, "For something so little he can make a hell of a lot of noise."

Harry smiled and looked around again for the Snitch, as he was doing so he kept one eye on Ron. His friend was distracted and as a result was playing increasingly badly, not helped at all by the jeering from the Slytherins. Harry caught sight of the Snitch and shot after it, it looped him over the crowd and some of the watching Gryffindors cheered loudly after him.

Harry felt his heart lift this was what he was good at. He didn't have to worry about Voldemort or the Ministry or school, just about catching that little golden ball.

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Yami watched the humans fly around, this game interested him immensely. It seemed to revolve around those four balls with each ball having a different purpose. His mood forgotten Yami moved closer.

He watched the game go on. One of the humans who was flying was very nervous and didn't seem to be playing very well at all. Yugi sat nearby watching also and Yami moved over to join him. The elf smiled faintly at him, humming an apology for earlier.

Humans were yelling, Yami didn't need to understand what they were saying to realise that they were insulting the humans in the air, amongst which was Yugi's parent. Yugi looked over at them and considered them. Yami could sense the elf's mind working, considering his options.

Yami was more interested in the game going on above them to pay closer attention. In a very obvious movement Yugi lifted his hand, marking lights began to flicker around his finger tips. The already marked human caught sight of the movement and flinched violently, all the other humans looked around and stared curiously at Yugi. The little elf lifted his hand once again to his lips. Yami could tell that it was an empty threat, unleashing one Shade attack on these humans was as far as Yugi would ever go in the way of revenge.

The marked human made slashing motions with his hands and all the others stopped making noise. Yugi gave them a satisfied look and though he went back to watching the game above he kept one eye on the humans. Yami smirked and turned his own attention back to the game at hand. Yugi could bluff with the best of them.

It was obvious that this was a game for two teams so Yami assumed the humans were only practicing. He would very much like to see a real game. He didn't know how long he was watching for, but when the humans dropped out of the sky and Yugi's parent made his way over to them Yami made himself scarce. That particular human was becoming a little too sensitive and had nearly caught sight of Yami more than once. It would be better if Yami stayed away from him for now.

OOOOOOOO  
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The next day was Sunday, unfortunately for Harry and Ron they had a small mountain of homework to finish off. After a few hours of sitting in the common room with the pair of them, Yugi had become bored. They then learned the true and unequalled power of Yugi's eyes. He wandered over to Hermione and stared at her sadly his eyes huge and watery, his bottom lip wobbling faintly. Hermione twitched and looked at him, "Is there something you want?" She asked gently.

Yugi moved closer and put his hand on her knee. "Will you take me outside?" He asked her in a small voice. Hermione looked down at him and Harry could actually see her melting under Yugi's bright purple gaze. She nodded and packed up her things. When she turned her back Harry caught the bright happy smile light up Yugi's face and he hid his own grin behind a book. Yugi was a manipulative little thing.

It was nearly midnight by the time Harry and Ron finished and even then Harry knew that some of their work was nowhere near the level it should have been.

Yugi and Hermione had returned after dinner, Hermione immediately began to knit while Yugi had curled up on a couch near the fire. As Harry began to pack up all his books and used parchment Yugi wandered over and tugged on his jeans, pointing to the fire place where Sirius' head had now appeared. Harry put down his quill and dropped instantly to his knees, "Sirius what are you doing?" Ron and Hermione joined him after giving the common room a careful look.

Sirius grinned in welcome, "Answering your letter." He turned his head faintly to look at Yugi. "Hello there. Dumbledore mentioned you to all of us at the Order." He turned back to Harry. "We have been looking around to see if we can find out what happened to his family. Last time You-Know-Who was in power we had a few elves in the Order. We're still in contact with some of them, but none of them are willing to talk about what happened. We don't know where most of their villages are, so we can't check up on them all either. So for the moment I guess he stays where he is."

Harry grinned over at Yugi who smiled contently back and leant against Harry's shoulder. Sirius went on. "Not that I'm worried. From what I know elves are pacifists by nature, but they can also be very dangerous and are fiercely protective of their own. I think you may have a better protector than we could ever give you."

Ron laughed. "Yeah no kidding. He took a neat bit of revenge on Malfoy."

Sirius grinned. "Really?"

Ron ploughed on. It was obvious that Sirius was eager for any news. "Yeah apparently he woke up screaming about a Shade in the dorms. We think Yugi can mimic a Shade. Cool hey?"

Sirius' grin faded. "That's not funny Ron. Shades are possibly the most dangerous magical creatures we know of. I don't think they would take lightly to being mocked or used. Even You-Know-Who himself wouldn't risk taking one on."

"It was just a trick, besides there are anti-Shade spells on Hogwarts." Ron replied, startled by Sirius' sternness.

"Perhaps. Anyway Harry, I wouldn't worry too much about your scar, not unless it starts getting really bad. We expected things to get a little more serious when he came back this is just proving the point." Sirius looked thoughtful, "I had better go anyway, and you should all go to bed."

They said goodnight and Sirius disappeared. They finished packing up and dragged themselves upstairs. Harry watched as Yugi made himself comfortable in his place near Harry's pillow. Harry was still puzzling over Sirius' reaction to the mention of the Shade.

That night Harry's dreams were for once not of the door way and the corridor, instead they were of Yugi being swallowed by a shadow with red eyes.

* * *

_Rule one: Magic + Adorableness = Ultimate Power. I have learnt this from the David Eddings character Aphrael and Yugi the master of the cute eyes._

_After I read back through this chapter I realised that actually nothing much happened. Don't worry, this chapter was all about information, little bits and pieces here and there. Things are actually coming together nicely._


	9. The Real Revenge

_Because all the reviews for the last chapter were quite short, I am going to give a great big group thankyou here, instead. Luv ya all!_

_Harry's range of emotions in this chapter make me laugh, poor guy._

Chapter 9: The Real Revenge

Harry wondered whether he would ever wake up this year with a good thought for the day. He forced himself to sit up and looked around. Ron was beginning to wake and Harry could hear his friends protesting moans from under the bundle of blankets.

Yugi was sitting on the window sill. The morning sun was filtering though the panes and had encased the elf in a halo of light and setting Yugi's hair shining gold, ebony and amethyst. Harry watched him for a few more moments before Ron gave a loud grunt and fell out of bed. Yugi turned instantly and the spell was broken. Harry sighed, pushed his glasses up his face and got up.

As Harry dressed, Yugi helped Ron untangle himself. The elf wasn't really much help as he was laughing so hard he nearly fell over twice. The sound of Yugi laughing, silvery bell-like chimes that shone through the air in almost visible waves made Harry smile, the sinking feeling in his stomach waring with a desire to join in the laughter

By the time they reached the Great Hall the sinking feeling had won and the appearance of Hermione's Daily Prophet and its jabs at him only soured his mood further. Yugi tried to cheer him up, he had decided that he liked one of Hermione's hats a particularly ghastly one in red and blue with a large green bobble on top. Despite the horrific colours Yugi managed to look as adorable as ever. Still Harry could do little more than force a smile.

As they were piling up their plates, Hermione let out a gasp or surprise and Harry and Ron immediately turned to her. She handed the paper over to Harry wordlessly, her lips tight and her brown eyes angry. Ron read over Harry's shoulder as a cold feeling began to thread its way down his spine.

The title ran _Deloris Umbridge made High Inquisitor of Hogwarts_.

Harry sat back and looked down at his hand. Great that was just what they needed, Umbridge with more power over their lives. They left for History of Magic discussing the possibilities of her appointment and how else she would try and take control at Hogwarts.

The only upside to the morning was that word that went around that Umbridge still couldn't enter her office due to it continuing to explode every time she opened the door. Apparently none of the teachers could work it out either, though Harry didn't think that they were trying all that hard.

Yugi stayed quiet through potions watching Snape who seemed to have decided that now that Harry had Yugi on his side, he would have to be more careful about punishments. As a result Harry found himself losing house points for everything he did in Potions, from walking in front of the Professor to taking too many ingredients.

Finally Harry bottled up a sample of his potion, it was close, not as perfect as Hermione's, but that wouldn't even happen in his dreams. As Harry was about to carry his potion up to the front Yugi tugged on Harry's robes and reached up to touch the flagon. It warmed in Harry's hand. Yugi winked at him and went to wait by Harry's bag, his face a picture of innocence. Bemused, Harry put the flagon on Snape's desk and headed for the door.

As he was leaving there was a sharp crack and Harry spun to see Snape staring in confusion at a flagon that Harry suspected was his bounced off the floor and retook its place on the desk. Everyone stared and Harry had to suppress a grin until he had pushed through the crowd and was out of the classroom. He looked at Yugi who followed placidly at his side. "Can you do that to every potion I make?"

Yugi nodded happily and began to skip ahead.

They headed once again for the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom. Umbridge was waiting. Her eyes fell on Yugi as he sat carefully under Harry's desk, her lips twitched in a look that Harry could only make out as disgust. "Mr Potter, the other teachers may allow you to bring that creature to lessons, however I hold to the school rule that pets are not allowed in the classrooms." She simpered.

Harry saw red, a pet! His hands clenched into fists and he opened his mouth to retort, but a gentle hand on his wrist stopped him. Yugi now stood next to him. The tiny elf looked at Umbridge and smiled sweetly at her. Umbridge flinched violently, then Yugi got to his feet and walked out of the room with every eye on him.

Harry turned back to the front and glared coldly at Umbridge, she ignored him. "Turn to the next chapter and begin to read."

Harry slammed open his book and then noticed Hermione hadn't opened hers at all. He sent her a questioning look, but she shook her head.

Finally Umbridge moved over to her. "Is there a problem dear?" She asked quietly.

Hermione didn't bother to lower her voice instead she was as ever straight and to the point. "I've finished the book."

Umbridge blinked, apparently surprised. It wouldn't take her long to realise that Hermione had always finished the set reading and any other reading she could get. "Well tell me what was said about the use of defensive spells."

"That they should only be used by trained and qualified wizards." Hermione replied immediately.

Harry scoffed loud enough that Umbridge heard him, she turned to him and smiled sweetly. "Why should untrained wizards such as yourselves use powerful magic like proper defensive spells? No one is going to attack school children."

That was it and without Yugi to distract him from his anger Harry snarled out at Umbridge. "Oh yeah? Well Voldemort's never been that picky about who he kills."

"Another week of detention Mr. Potter I think." Umbridge was smirking unpleasantly, pleased at having got a reaction out of him. Harry grunted and sunk back into his seat.

OOOOOOOO  
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Yami had been wandering the halls again, it hadn't taken him long to become bored of following the humans around, especially considering they did the same thing every day. This human dwelling was large enough that it would take a long time to fully explore as well as making it unlikely that he would run into any humans. Day time had become a good time to explore as well, despite a lack of hiding places he could determine for certain just where the humans congregated and what areas they avoided.

Yami found that the areas the humans avoided fell into two categories: they were either empty of anything of interest or places where the magic of the building had gotten out of hand and odd things tended to happen. Fortunately so far Yami had managed to avoid getting caught in these, though some of them had been a close call.

Yami was just passing along a corridor avoiding the pictures on the walls by travelling on the ceiling, when Yugi's parent stormed along the hall way. He looked furious and the emotion called to Yami. Yami paused and made up his mind, if Yugi was going to spend the rest of his childhood with this human then it was about time Yami introduced himself.

OOOOOOOO  
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Harry was heading up to Umbridge's office for the first of this week's detentions when he saw something move in the shadows. He jerked in surprise and turned to look. Standing in a corner leaning casually against the wall was a boy. He was shorter than Harry by nearly a head, though the long trailing spikes of his hair nearly made up the difference.

He was almost what Harry had imagined Yugi would look like when he grew up; tri-coloured hair hanging loose, similar clear-cut, striking features.

When he stepped from the shadows though, this guy was different. He lacked Yugi's innocent appeal, instead it was replaced with a palatable sense of darkness. Adding to this sense was an outfit of skin tight black leather a pair of gleaming red eyes that watched Harry with amusement. Harry blinked, those eyes weren't like Voldemort's despite their similar colour, they were clearer and brighter, more focused and infinitely more deadly.

"Hello." The newcomer said, his voice was a soft deep purr with a slightly halting accent. "Err...hi." Harry stuttered out, totally confused and out of his depth. "Who are you?" Harry had seen strange things in Hogwarts, but this pretty much took the cake.

"You can call me Yami." He held out a hand and Harry took it automatically, Yami's grip was firm and his blood red eyes studied Harry carefully.

Harry blinked rapidly wondering if this was just a really crazy dream, but he replied automatically, "I'm Harry."

Yami nodded and the look of amusement increased. "I know. I thought it was time we met."

"Why?" This conversation seemed to be going nowhere and Harry didn't feel any less confused now than when they had started. What was worse was the fact that Yami seemed to know exactly what was going on. "You will probably be seeing more of me." He shrugged, "You can ask Yugi is he is feeling communicative."

Harry caught on that. "You know Yugi, why do you look like him?" Now questions were cramming themselves into his head.

Another shrug. "A lot of people know Yugi, and I look like him because I feel like it." Yami turned his head as though he had heard something. "Enjoy your detention." And he was gone. Harry frowned thinking hard and he would have stood there for longer, if he hadn't realised that he was indeed going to be late for detention.

Harry arrived at Umbridge's office just on five o'clock, still puzzling over the meeting with the stranger. Harry couldn't figure out who he was, despite the strange feeling that he was familiar. Umbridge had relocated her office to a nearby room until someone could solve her exploding office problem. Harry sat down at a new desk and picked up the black quill. Harry lifted his head, "Am I writing the same line professor?" He asked with feigned politeness.

Umbridge was sitting at her desk and only nodded in response. Harry set the quill to the parchment and clenched his fist in readiness for the first stabbing pain. However when he began to write nothing happened. The quill tip was still writing in the red blood ink, but Harry was experiencing no pain. He peeked at his hand, nothing.

Harry kept writing and after a few lines he began to notice that Umbridge was twitching as though she was itching. It was then Harry noticed a mark flash across her face. He paused in his writing, then began again slowly. The mark became more pronounced and he noticed another on her arm. Somehow the pen was affecting her instead of him. Harry grinned and began to write furiously, Umbridge began to itch at the spots where the letters were appearing. Harry kept to his line of 'I must not tell lies' at least that way she couldn't tell him off, besides it would good to see Umbridge with those words imprinted all over her body.

After a few more minutes Umbridge leapt to her feet and shrieked in pain. Her eyes fell on the sentences on her arm, but before Harry could begin another line she snatched the quill from his hand. "Enough you can go, and no more detentions this week." She was gasping in surprise and horror as Harry ran from the room.

Harry dawdled slightly on the way back to the common room, hoping to run into Yami again. However his strange new acquaintance didn't appear, for a moment Harry wondered if he had anything to do with the pen malfunctioning.

When Harry got back to the common room, nearly everyone was still up. Ron caught sight of him first as unlike Hermione he was staring at the wall instead of writing. "What are you doing back so soon?" Harry's red headed friend asked.

Harry couldn't get rid of the swagger in his step as he made his way over to them. "I got there and the pen started carving the words into Umbridge instead of me."

Hermione looked up from her essay and blinked, "There is something strange going on here, first her office explodes and now the pen malfunctions?"

Harry turned to Yugi, who sat on the chair and was drawing contently. All the tension had gone out of him the moment Harry had walked back into the room. "Was it you, did you punish her?" Harry asked.

Yugi looked up, "I do not punish, I warn and it was not me." He spoke so softly that Harry could hardly hear his voice over the noise of the common room. Then Harry remembered the strange meeting, he sat down and pulled closer to Hermione and Ron, "I also met someone in the halls on the way there. He looked like Yugi, but about our age, and he was dark, it was... weird." It was the best word he could come up with to explain the experience. Once again Harry turned to look at the little elf. "He said he knew you, and his name was Yami."

Yugi nodded sagely as though this all made sense, but he made no comment. Harry studied him. "You know it's kind of annoying that you won't tell me anything."

Yugi lifted his impossibly bright eyes and studied Harry, his gaze was strangely intense and it took all of Harry's will power to match him. "I will tell you one day, something's just take time. For now you will just have to trust me. And please do not mention Yami to anyone else."

"Why?" Hermione asked, "Is he not supposed to be here?"

Yugi shrugged and smiled faintly. "Not really."

Realising that they would get nothing else out of him for the time being Harry slid into a chair and pulled out a sheet of parchment to begin the next essay for McGonagall.

* * *

_It surprised me a bit when Yami introduced himself here. I wasn't really planning for that to happen, still it works._

_I'm having a bit of trouble writing at the moment. I haven't run out of ideas, rather the opposite, I have so many I don't know what to do with them all._

_I'm a bit all over the place as well, I've written the last chapter of this story now, so I know where I'm going, I also know how I am going to get there, I just can't write as fast as I think. Pity._


	10. The Beginning of Rebellion

_I don't like the first part of this chapter, but I couldn't come up with any other way to say what I wanted to say._

Chapter 10: The Beginning of Rebellion

Harry made his way down to breakfast on Wednesday feeling as light as a feather. The worst days of the week were over, he had no more detentions and... well what could he say he felt great.

Even the threat of Umbridge being in his classes today as High Inquisitor couldn't dull the slightly euphoric feeling. Yugi had picked up on his mood as usual and was skipping ahead of Harry as they made their way into the Great Hall. Hermione and Ron looked up and smiled at him. Harry grinned back realising that his friends were relieved to see that his bad mood of the last month was gone. Harry dropped into his seat and pulled a plate towards him. "Nice day isn't it." He said. Yugi giggled from next to him.

Harry smeared jam onto a piece of toast and handed it to the elf who tucked in, they had discovered that Yugi had something of a sweet tooth. Harry had it in his mind to get some sugar quills for him when they went to Hogsmeade this weekend.

Umbridge was in Transfiguration that morning, Harry gave her a smile and a wave and she twitched and rubbed her arm. She still bore bright red weals in the vague shapes of letters.

McGonagall set them to work vanishing mice again; Harry was getting better and better as he had been able to practice the last few nights, though he still couldn't match Hermione.

As McGonagall walked past Harry's desk she smiled faintly down at Yugi who was watching their mice with interest. Yugi had almost all of Harry's teachers wrapped around his finger, only Snape and Umbridge seemed immune to his pretty face and bright smile. Yugi patted Harry's mouse on its head and Harry had to grin as Ron's own mouse scrambled over to beg attention from the elf.

Hermione was watching Umbridge fiercely as though she were trying to bore a hole right through her just with the power of her eyes. Ron was watching Hermione firstly with bemusement and eventually with a look of total understanding that was so unfamiliar to his face that Harry almost laughed.

It wasn't until later that night after everyone had gone to bed and the three of them were left alone in the common room that Harry discovered the reason behind both his friends' looks. Hermione turned to him suddenly. She had been knitting furiously for the last few hours and had finished several hats, all of which had been tried on by Yugi. "Harry I think we need to take learning Defence against the Dark Arts into our own hands."

Harry blinked at her, "Oh, okay how?" Out of the corner of his eye Harry noticed Yugi look up from his drawing by the fire side.

Hermione glanced at Ron and spared him a withering look when she realised that he was focussing too intently on his essay and would not be backing her up. She coughed lightly and continued. "Well we need a teacher, someone who knows what it's like to fight Voldemort."

Harry was confused. The only people he could think of were members of the Order and there was no way that they would be able to come to Hogwarts to teach them anything, let alone Defence against the Dark Arts. Hermione was watching him hopefully, he looked at her blankly and Yugi sighed. "They want you to teach them Harry." In the silent room his soft trilling voice was easily heard from where he sat by the fire.

Hermione started and looked down at him then back at Harry, "Well yes, but I was hoping he'd come up with it himself." She seemed slightly annoyed.

Yugi looked up from under his long fringe and gave an apologetic smile. Harry was gaping now. "You want me to teach you two Defence against the Dark Arts?"

Hermione looked guilty, "Well I was sort of hoping that if you agreed that you would teach other people as well. We would have to keep it quiet of course. I can't imagine Umbridge being happy about this sort of thing considering what she is trying to do with our actual class, but we need to learn something." Hermione had become more confident as she spoke and by the end she was meeting his eyes with steely determination. Harry repressed a shudder. He recognised that look and he didn't like what it meant, Hermione was going to hound him about this.

Privately Harry thought it would be great to actually learn defensive spells, but another part of him was terrified of teaching other students. Yugi rested his chin on Harry's knee. The movement seemed innocuous, but Harry immediately felt himself give into the idea. The pros suddenly seemed to outshine the cons in his mind. "Well...I'll think about it." He conceded.

Hermione seemed pleased with this and turned back to her hats. Harry stared at his essay, now unable to write. He turned his quill over in his fingers thinking, after a few minutes he found his mind turning to lists of useful spells and how he could teach people. Harry shook his head and began to pack up he wouldn't be able to do anything else tonight.

OOOOOOOO  
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Yami hovered around the fire lit room, Yugi wanted to talk to him, so the Shade waited. The elf made his way carefully down the stairs from where he slept and settled on a seat near the dimming fire. Yami moved closer. For a long moment the child stared into the fire, turning amethyst eyes into glowing coals. "Yami." Yugi said softly, the Shade drifted closer. "Who is Voldemort?"

Yami twitched uncomfortably and was silent for a moment. How could he put this? All Shades knew of the non-human, he had attempted to gather the Shades to fight for him with false promises. He had also nearly been killed in the ensuing collision of powerful magic. "He is a wizard, who all others are afraid of." There, that was appropriately non-informative.

"Harry is not frightened." Yugi noted thoughtfully.

Yami examined the elf's face. "He can be foolishly brave." As proved by the total lack of fear when confronted with a Shade in the middle of his school.

Yugi turned to look at him, "You are not afraid." He accused softly.

Yami swirled in confusion, "Why should I be afraid of a human?"

Yugi turned back to the fire. "You must protect him." The elf's musical tones were firm and Yami knew he referred to Harry.

Yami didn't bother to argue, he had never yet won an argument with his bond-mate. "I will guard him for you." He sighed and the fire dimmed lower in response.

Yugi frowned. He was puzzling something out. Yami waited silently not interfering. Sometimes Yugi's thought processes made him dizzy. "The humans are not very well able to defend themselves from this Voldemort?"

"There never seemed to be much fighting against him." Yami was interested as to where this conversation was going, he would just have to wait and see. As good as he was at word games he had nothing on the elfin people.

"Harry will be teaching the humans to defend themselves against Voldemort, will you teach them also?" Yugi appeared to be looking at the fire, but in fact his eyes were focused on the Shade watching his reaction carefully.

Yami controlled himself tightly to prevent a start of surprise. "I doubt that they will accept the help of a Shade." In fact he would guaruntee it.

"Harry accepts you, the others will as well. To defeat this wizard you have told me of, they will need all the help that they can get. You will teach them to access the earth powers." Yugi's eyes were boring into him and Yami flinched.

"You understand the earth magic better than I." He tried.

Yugi shook his head, "I cannot teach them, you must. Don't worry, they will get used to you." Yugi kept his big eyes on Yami staring pleadingly into his shadows. Unfortunately in this form Yami couldn't look away. Sometimes 360 degree vision was a real downer. He gave in and nodded. "We will have to be careful about introducing me; I do not want to have to fight my way back in here if the adult wizards learn of my presence."

Yugi gave him a brilliant smile and settled back into his embrace, simply content that he had gotten his way. Not that he ever didn't, even she had lost all arguments with her child.

The Shade settled down into a corner. The place and their reasons for being here confused him and he didn't like being confused.

Yami had encountered the wizard these humans called Voldemort, he had been the first Shade to follow him. He had also been the first to leave when he had realised that the wizard wanted him to work with other Shades. The fool had thought that their love of human fear would oppose their hatred for each other.

Yami shivered faintly at the remembrance of the chaos that had reigned in the Shade population after that. There had been years of waring as territories had been re-established. Of course that thought led onto the remembrance of when he had first seen Yugi.

It was unusual for Shades to venture near the pure Light that was an elf, but he had been drawn, drawn to a creature that could sustain him far better than any collection of humans. And of course there was her, bright as the day and warm as the Egyptian desert. She had always been there, had spoken for him to her people.

Reminiscence took him to the morning. Humans wandered down, Yami didn't move,. The room was still dark enough that he would not be detected. All the humans had left by the time he shifted again, he was really in no mood to either follow humans around or further explore the building. He settled back into a corner, making himself as small and undetectable as possible and relaxed into his resting state.

* * *

_Okay that was a short chapter. The main point of this chapter was that last bit, gives a bit of back ground and sets me up for later in the story._


	11. Hogsmeade

_Updates may be a little patchy for while. I am in the middle of my exams, so writing and updating is going to be a bit difficult, but bear with me. After this is all over I will start to update more often._

Chapter 11: Hogsmeade

Yami followed the humans from the castle grounds, he had been wary of doing so thus far. However the anti-Shade spells seemed to extend further than he had realised in this direction and so he remained free to move as he wished.

Yugi was dancing along in the snow, much of it rising to above his waist, despite the fact that Yami knew Yugi could walk on top of it should he wish to. His human parent had at first attempted desperately to prevent the young elf from leaping about in the snow, however he had soon given up when he realised that Yugi was enjoying himself far too much to stop. The three human children were now watching him and laughing at his antics.

There were humans everywhere, all magic folk. Yami did his best to keep hidden but it was difficult. Several people jerked around in surprise when he brushed past them or they caught flashes of him out the corners of their eyes. Yami had finally resorted to hovering several feet in the air and keeping a bird's eye view on the human's progress.

Yami remained outside as the humans went into the various buildings. Yugi seemed to find them fascinating while Yami found the whole thing very boring and was beginning to contemplate kidnapping a few of the humans to entertain himself.

When the three humans exited the last building Yugi was holding several feathers apparently made of some sweet sugar. /They are Sugar Quills/ the elf thought to him, /I think I like this place/.

Yami would have rolled his eyes if he had any in this form.

As far as Yami could determine the three humans were meeting with others to discuss their new learning plan. Really what they discussed was of no interest to Yami at all. He was concentrating on figuring out how he was going to introduce himself without terrifying the life out of the human children, as enjoyably as that would have been.

Yami was sure that he would have to wait and see who was willing to join this leaning session of Yugi's parent.

/Yami his name is Harry, you are going to have to get used to using it. Humans don't use sounds and ideas like we do to communicate./ Yugi sighed mentally at him. Yami grumbled, thinking and referring to the human as 'Harry' meant concentrating and changing his whole mental process.

Yami still thought of Yugi as his young elfin bond-mate, or ensnarer depending on the child's mood. The use of the child's name, or what passed for his name in the human tongue was difficult enough and of all the creatures Yami knew he knew Yugi best. /Names are awkward/ Yami moaned resulting in an eye roll and an exasperated sigh from the elf.

Yami followed the humans further from the centre of the village, examining it as he went. All the buildings were made of stone and human magic. Yami thought that usually it would be a quiet place however the presence of the human children from the school meant that it was very busy. Despite this the three children he was following were moving with surprising agility through the throngs towards a slightly dilapidated old building that smelt of old magic, not human.

Yami floated over their heads and tilted thoughtfully, examining the building through several magical vision filters. The filters were a special trick he had learnt from the elves. It allowed him to see magic and in turn determined what species had cast the spell, what changes the magic had undergone and in some cases even to determine precisely which person had cast the spell in the first place.

The filters revealed the presence of elfin magic within the walls, as well as magic from several other races, centaur, merfolk, even a little Shade magic. Most importantly however within the layers hidden and almost invisible even to him were strands of true ancient earth magic.

Yami was interested; he flowed into the dim room within the building. Perfect for hiding a Shade and amusingly the building did not seem to react to his presence. This was probably because despite the fact that humans were living here and using this place there was not a shred of human spells within the walls. Interesting.

Yami settled down near to where the three humans sat with Yugi balanced carefully on his parents...damn Harry's knee. They were talking nervously amongst themselves. Yami spent a few minutes following the flowing lines of magic with his vision, careful not to weave himself into the spells in the process.

The doors opened again and more humans came through. Among them were two of humans that Yami was very interested in. He had noted them on previous days. They seemed to be closely related to Harry's other human friend, but more importantly they seemed to enjoy tormenting other humans. That endeared them to the Shade. Perhaps they would be more sympathetic towards him if they met him as a prankster before they met him as a living shadow who wished to feed upon their fears.

Yugi was looking at him shaking his head slightly in disbelief. /You are getting sarcastic again. Remember what happened last time?/

Yami flinched, that had been the result of being around the light of the elves for too long when he was unaccustomed to it. The resulting chaos had been interesting; three hundred hysterically giggling elves was a sight to behold.

Yami clamped down on his apparently devastating sense of humour and tried to pay attention to the human female who was now talking hesitantly to the gathered children.

"Well we are all here because we need to learn more about Defence against the Dark Arts than that useless woman is willing to teach us." As she spoke she became more confident, however Yami's attention was wandering. The emotions of the gathered group held no interest to him and this building was fascinating. The way the different magic's interwove allowing each to feed of the other meaning that the spells would never fade or fail.

Yami shook himself causing another human in the room to start and stare into the corner with confusion. Yami tried to force himself to pay attention to the discussion at hand. However even his remarkable ability to concentrate on two things at once could not truly allow him to appreciate both the complexities of the magic around him and what the human was talking about. What he eventually ended up with was a confused mish-mash of information:

"...I want to be trained in Defence because..."

The centaur spells seemed to oppose that irritating kink that often occurred in mer-magic...

"What makes me say that Voldemort is back?." Harry was speaking now. He was not pleased, but his anger was still not enough to pull Yami's attention away from the magic around him.

Really this was elfin magic at its best. Intertwined with earth magic allowing all the other magic's to power off the world around them. Why had this been done? Even more so how were the humans unaware of such a powerful working under their very noses?

"If you're here to find out what it's like to fight Voldemort..." Harry's anger spiked and Yami drew his attention to the source of that well of energy.

Yami could tell them what it was like. He could also tell them what it was like to fight for him, not he thought they really wanted to know. There were other humans talking now, all rapidly one after the other and Yugi was looking at Yami with that look of patient irritation that meant that he thought Yami was being particularly silly. Yami however had become very interested in something that one of the red-headed humans had drawn from a bag; it looked like the type of thing that Bakura would like to play with. Yami focused more on the conversation going on around him.

"So anyone who wants to join, write your name on this paper and we can start to get organised." The female finished off, putting the paper down on a nearby table. Yami shifted over, this was more interesting the human had put a spell on the paper. What it did Yami was unsure; however he could tell that the effects would be highly amusing.

The humans moved past him, each writing their names carefully on the paper. Yami checked each of them, letting their emotions wash through him, all but a few were truly interested in what this was and even those few were now leaning towards Harry's point of view.

Yami examined Yugi, the elf was sitting quietly on a chair his gleaming eyes focused on Yami a faint question in them. Yami affirmed, he would attempt to teach these humans the earth magic, or as much of it as he was able to use. It was not natural for Shades to use earth magic, theirs was more of the shadow kind.

The group broke up and soon all the human children were heading back to the castle. Yami floated along behind. He needed to get Harry alone so that he could discuss things with him. However this proved to be more difficult than Yami had realised. The three humans seemed determined to stick together and refused to be separated on their walk back to the castle.

Yugi was watching Yami over Harry's shoulder. The elf was cold and wet from playing in the snow, despite this he realised what Yami wanted. Yugi shivered faintly, but bit down on his lip and leapt from Harry's arms and took off across the snow. Harry followed him, much slower due to the deep, untouched snow. Thankfully the other two remained on the path waiting for their friend.

Yami dashed ahead and quickly took human form, literally stepping out of nowhere to stand in front of Harry. The human jumped in surprise and twitched as Yugi climbed into Yami's arms, shivering and pressing himself to the Shade's warm chest. Yami curled his arms protectively around his young charge, sensing his shivers slow. Harry stopped his breath frosting in the air. "You." His voice was almost an accusation.

Yami tilted his head. "Hello Harry." He put the boy's rudeness down to shock.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, glancing over his shoulder to see if his friends had followed. Seeing that there was no one in sight Harry reached down to his belt and touched his wand as though assuring himself of its presence. Little good that it would do him. Yami found it odd that wizards seemed to think that their relatively weak wand magic would protect them against the will based magic that most other species used.

"You have started a new lesson, to learn to defend yourself against the wizard known as Voldemort. I can teach you things that will give you the upper hand in a fight against him." Yami came quickly to the point. He really didn't have much time before the other two came looking for Harry.

Thankfully Harry looked interested, "I'm listening." He said.

"I am willing to teach those who follow you this magic; however I think it would be best for you to introduce me to your two friends first. That way we may discuss things before beginning." Introducing himself slowly would be better than surprising everyone all at once. Yami looked at Harry. The boy again seemed only confused, not afraid. Foolishly brave Yami concluded, to not be afraid of a Shade. It was tempting to do something to scare him, but Yami resisted and instead watched Harry think.

"Okay. I guess you don't want to see anyone else, or let them see you," Harry mused, "So what about tonight the Gryffindor common room, late, we'll stay up. Come see us when we are alone I guess. You know where it is?"

Yami nodded faintly, but before he could go on Harry was asking another question. "What are you?"

Yami lifted his head and stared at him, not foolishly brave, stupidly ignorant. Yami turned and allowed Yugi to slide from his grasp to the ground. The elf padded across the snow to Harry who picked him up automatically his eyes still on Yami. For the moment it would be best that Harry remained unaware of what Yami was. "You will find out soon enough." Yami said softly, before stepping into the shadows and disappearing.

OOOOOOOO  
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Harry returned to Ron and Hermione perplexed, that was the second time he had seen Yami and he still knew nothing more about him. It was infuriating. "Harry is something wrong?" Hermione asked as they started back towards the castle. Yugi was dosing in Harry's arms now. Harry was sure that he had run off to make sure only Harry was present when Yami appeared.

Harry shook his head. "Look tonight we need to stay up until everyone has left the common room. We may have a teacher who can show us something that will give us a weapon against Voldemort, or at least that's what he says." Now that Harry thought about it, he realised that he had no idea who or what Yami was or why he should trust him.

"Who?" Ron asked quietly.

"Yami, that guy I was telling you about before. No idea who or what he is, but he offered just then. Then he disappeared into nothing again."

Hermione frowned, "I don't know if I like the sound of this."

Harry didn't either. "There are three of us and Yugi against one of him." Harry suggested. He decided not to point out the fact that Yugi seemed to like Yami and indeed seemed completely at ease around him.

Hermione frowned slightly, but finally nodded after a glanced a Ron, who shrugged, "Okay tonight it is."

Harry nodded and shifted Yugi on his hip. The elf glanced up his sleepy face ruined by the intense look in his bright eyes.

OOOOOOOO  
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For something different: A little from Yugi's perspective

Yugi sighed laying his head down on Harry's shoulder. Really this was becoming more complex than he had hoped.

Both Yami and Harry were strong souls; they would not blend very well. It was going to be like pushing two brick walls past each other trying to get them to work together. Luckily he already had a fair bit of control over Yami that was one of the advantages of being a child; it was much easier to get your own way.

Harry was another thing altogether, Yugi was already having to work quite hard on pressing his own trust for Yami along the sire-bond to Harry, a bond that was not really designed for the back-passing of emotion. Oh well he would manage.

Yugi figured that at least Yami would get along with Harry better than he got on with Ryou's Shade, Bakura. Though really that wasn't saying much. As far as Yugi could determine if those two ever came within a few metres of each other the safest bet would be to run for cover, preferably several countries away if possible.

Yugi watched Yami flit alongside them as they walked. The Shade was thoughtful, considering how best to tackle tonight's interview. Yugi sighed happily; Yami was emitting a low throbbing that was surprisingly comforting. Along with the warmth coming along the sire-bond from Harry Yugi was lulled to sleep. As he settled more comfortably into Harry's arms Yugi thought about tonight, he was going to have to tightly control the situation to prevent things from going horribly wrong.

* * *

_What will happen tonight in the common room? Will there be chaos? Will there be bloodshed? All things aside I don't think anyone should ever let Yami or Bakura near the sharp metal instrument that Fred and George bought in Zongo's, I think that would be a particularly bad move._

_What did we think of a little from Yugi? Yay or Nay? No matter there won't be much, just a few bits pieces just a get another angle, you know keep it interesting._


	12. Never Meet a Shade

_I need to stop reading and watching TV, it is giving me too many ideas. I have the beginnings of about six stories in my head and as such this is getting poorly neglected. It is very annoying as I am quite enjoying writing this._

_I now have a file on my computer which is devoted purely to random bits of waffle that may someday turn into fully fledged stories._

_Enough moaning and on with the story._

Chapter 12: Never Meet a Shade at Midnight

Yami waited in his dark corner of the common room for several hours. The humans were edgy, none of them were really sure about a meeting with a stranger. Especially one with an air like Yami. They tried to remain calm, but some of the other children were noticing. The three were receiving odd looks and whispers and it made them all the more nervous. The emotion left Yami feeling odd and tingly.

Of all the people in the room Yugi alone remained the same. He was sitting next to the fire playing quietly with a ball of string, winding it around his fingers into intricate patterns all the while softly singing an elfin lullaby. Yami laughed gently to himself causing the fire to dim. The lullaby had very strong and subtle magic which soothed and calmed and the patterns Yugi was weaving with his fingers were wards for relaxation. The elf was cheating something shocking.

Yami waited a few minutes after the last of the other wizard children had gone up the stairs before he drew his shadows into his human form. He paced from his corner towards the three humans at the table near the fire place. Yami's walk was silent. Though his body had weight years of practice allowed him to move without making a sound no matter where he was. Yami stepped up behind Harry and coughed gently.

The three of them leapt into the air and spun from their seats, terror rippling through them. Already on edge the other male and the female took in his gleaming red eyes and the wisping shadows around his form and snatched for their wands.

OOOOOOOO  
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Sure Yami had snuck up on them and scared all three of them out of their skin. But that was no reason for Ron and Hermione to grab out their wands and point them shakily at Yami. Harry moved forwards, but he was too slow. Hermione whipped her wand around, "Bombardia" she half shrieked. The spell exploded from her wand and should have slammed into Yami.

Harry's newest acquaintance twitched faintly and the spell dissolved into a shadow. "Hey what are you doing, this is Yami." Harry hissed lunging towards Hermione and dragging her wand away. Ron grabbed him and dragged Harry back behind them. They were both obviously of the opinion that Harry had lost his mind. "Harry what the hell were you thinking!" Ron snapped, obviously thinking hard by the furrow between his eyebrows.

Harry was feeling more and more confused. Yami still hadn't moved and was watching both the wands with unconcerned amusement. "What do you mean what was I thinking? He said he would help us. What's wrong with you two?" Harry asked. The room felt slightly heavy, as though he were moving through water rather than air. Harry couldn't be sure but he thought that the sensation was coming from the small slender person in front of them. Harry rubbed at his scar which was prickling faintly.

Hermione shifted in response to Yami moving slightly to allow Yugi to climb into his arms. "Harry that's a Shade." Her wand arm was shaking and Harry could see that she was very unnerved by the ease Yami had shown in blocking her spell.

Harry blinked and turned to stare at Yami. Yami tilted his head up to meet Harry's eyes with his own red ones. "You mean that thing that you said was a living shadow that fed off fear?" Harry asked, blinking in confusion. He was sure Hermione had said they couldn't get into Hogwarts.

Hermione nodded. Her eyes were wide with terror causing the Shade to smirk faintly and lean forwards, leering at her. "Why do you fear me human, have I done anything to cause you harm?" Yami's velvety voice rippled around the room, low and deep, filling all the space with regal presence.

Ron made a jabbing motion with his wand. "How did you get past the spells?" He asked accusingly. Yami shrugged and shifted Yugi around on his slim hip. "I had to follow Yugi." His tones had lightened faintly and he watched them all with a slightly less predatory look.

This time is was Harry who accused their guest. "Why didn't you tell me you were a Shade?" He demanded.

"I believed that you knew what I was, I have never encountered a wizard who did not know." Another shrug and Yami's eyes, gleaming blood red in the dim light drifted away from them, as though they no longer interested him.

Harry took the opportunity to glance at his friends. "How did you know he was a Shade just by looking at him?"

Hermione lowered her wand ever so slightly apparently eased by the fact that Yami was yet to attack and Yugi now rested comfortably in Yami's arms watching them calmly. The little elf was usually a good judge of character.

"His eyes. The only truly distinguishing feature of a Shade who is determined to hide among humans is the bright red of their eyes." Hermione reeled off rapidly, causing Harry and Ron to blink and Yami to smirk again while the eyes under question flashed brightly.

"Oh..." Was all Harry could think to say, Hermione's rapid recitals often left him feeling a little blank.

They were at a stale mate. Hermione and Ron were obviously not willing to trust Yami and yet Yami was apparently not going to make a move against the two of them.

Harry took a deep breath, Yugi obviously trusted Yami and the two times that Harry had met him Yami hadn't done anything to threaten him. "Okay, well Yami you said that you had something for us to learn. What was it? Hermione, Ron can you please just lower your wands for a moment." His friends dropped their arms, but both of them sat as far from the Shade as they could wands still gripped tightly in their fingers.

Yugi shifted himself from Yami's arms to Ron's lap. Yami himself stood with his back to the fire, the flickering flames caused shadows to wrap around him in interesting and impossible ways. Harry felt a little dizzy watching them, so he tried to focus of the one still and clear part of Yami; his eyes.

"Yugi has asked that I teach you the earth magic. It is a power that comes from the world around you. It is far more basic than the magic you use, but also far more powerful as it has not the limitations that your own magic has." Harry realised as the Shade spoke that Yami's stilted accent made everything he said seem exotic and intoxicating. He found himself wishing that Professor Binn's spoke like Yami did, Yami's accent could easily make the most boring subject memorable.

Hermione was thinking. Ron still gripped his wand tightly in his hand, eyes on Yami. Yugi appeared to be dozing. Harry knew better. The elf was perfectly aware of everything that was going on.

This decision really brought out the differences in his two friends. Hermione's fear of Shades was beginning to be lost behind her desire to learn, while apparently nothing could entice Ron to change his stubborn mind. Hermione nodded slowly, "Alright, Harry said that Voldemort...Oh Ron...can't use this magic, so it would really be a good thing to learn to use against him. Still how do we know if we can trust you?" She looked fiercely over at Yami.

"You will just have to take my word for it. I have enough energy to get by. The humans in this place exist in a state that is energizing for a Shade. Besides I do not think that Yugi would allow me to feed on you." Yami's lips quirked up is a smirk and Yugi clicked his tongue softly.

Ron's head came up, "But you fed on Malfoy... he said he saw a Shade in his dorm, it was you!"

Yami turned his eyes on him quizzically, "Yes." The monosyllable held a great deal of information, satisfaction, enjoyment and remembrance. Ron processed this slowly and a grin spread over his face. "Cool." Harry relaxed slightly. Apparently Yami now had Ron's seal of approval, now it was just Hermione. He turned to his other friend.

"Okay I'll accept that learning this magic could be useful, but I don't think anyone else will accept it. As Harry's friends we are used to weird stuff happening, but the others won't be. I don't think anyone will be willing to be taught by a Shade." Hermione murmured almost to herself.

Ron nodded and Harry studied Yami thoughtfully. The Shade looked back at him and smirked. "When you first saw me Harry, what did you think I was?"

Harry blinked. "I thought you were something from Hogwarts. We see some strange stuff around here."

Yami nodded, "I have encountered some of those things myself. However for this purpose, you will not be taught by a Shade. You will be taught by the spirit of Hogwarts herself or himself as the case will be." The Shade shrugged and glanced curiously at Hermione, who was shaking her head. "It won't work. You look like a Shade, that's the first thing people will think and we won't be able to convince them otherwise."

Yami shook his head in return. "As you said earlier, the thing that humans use to define my race is the colour of our eyes. However a Shades eyes are not always red as mine are. With a little magic I can alter their colour. Therefore so long as I remain in human form I will appear to be a human."

To demonstrate Yami closed his eyes, after a moment he reopened them, they were now a dark violet colour. They still contained that deadly spark, but the colour, now similar to Yugi's, dimmed the spark.

Hermione stared, obviously impressed and then she bit her lip. At some point in the exchange Yugi had moved over to her lap and was now staring up into her face. "Alright, I'll help on one condition. You answer my questions about Shades. Reading Arkano's memoirs and talking to you now made me realise how little that wizards know about other species, it really is pathetic how little wizards really know about Shades. I mean we have labelled you as the most dangerous magical creatures and yet all we know about you is the fact that you feed on fear. I think I should include Shades in SPEW. I know you can take care of yourselves, but you are very underrepresented in the population and with the Ministry." Hermione had that exultant look on her face that made Harry and Ron want to go hide somewhere.

Yami looked at her with amusement. His eyes were back to their normal crimson but for a moment they flickered and looked at Yugi. "I will answer your questions, though not tonight. You are human and need to rest, that little I understand about your people." His body began to fade seeming to dissolve slowly into the shadows that surrounded it. Ron gaped at the spot where Yami had been standing, "Okay that was cool."

OOOOOOOO  
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Yami watched the three humans pack up; Yugi followed them carefully and quietly. Though none of them realised, their easy acceptance of the situation was primarily due to Yugi's very calming and slightly controlling presence in the room. Yami rolled in laughter; it had been well worth the energy to watch the human female shudder in fear as he absorbed her spell with his own magic.

He was interested in the female's wish to learn more about Shades. Perhaps there was more to humans than Yami realised. Well he would tell her what she wanted to know and something's she probably didn't. Yami wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to really scare her.

* * *

_Yugi is really channelling Aphrael in this chapter, the whole lap swapping thing. I really liked the idea, so I borrowed it a bit. If you don't know who I am talking about refer to David Edding's two series 'The Elenium' and 'The Tamuli'._

_Euk... after re-reading this chapter I realised that I kept saying that Yami 'feeds' on humans, that sounds very vampiric or Wraith-like for those Stargate fans. Really it is nothing alike, but I couldn't think of another way to put it, it is still annoying me._

_I am now going away to read Harry Potter and watch Yu-gi-oh on YouTube to get myself in the right mood for writing another chapter._


	13. Where to Practice

_This is a long explaining chapter, it jumps around a bit, but there is some very important information hidden in here._

Chapter 13: Where to Practice

Harry woke in the morning with the feeling that he would have been able to fly if he had leapt out of the window. Yugi was smiling brightly, picking up on Harry's good mood. Ron was awake and dressing, he returned Harry's grin.

The thought of this working behind Umbridge's back bolstered them to a mood that was close to ecstasy. As they descended the stairs to the common room Harry thought that their good mood was probably not good for the Shade that they now knew resided in the school. Still he supposed that not everyone was feeling so enthusiastic this morning.

Unfortunately Harry's good mood wasn't destined to last long. As they approached the portrait hole they noticed a group of students standing and staring at the notice board. Harry pushed through the crowd, shoving a pair of tiny first years aside. Ron leant over his shoulder peering at the new notice pinned to the very centre of the board; a cold feeling went down his spine:

_Educational Degree Number twenty-four: all student organisations, teams and groups are hereby disbanded unless permission is given by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor._

Harry looked at Ron, his friend looked worried, "She knows." Ron whispered. They drew back out of the crowd and Harry picked up Yugi. The elf was looking at him in confusion; his eyes flickered towards the board and back to Harry's face.

"Sorry Yugi, but things just got more complex. We are now part of an illegal group, not just one that is slightly wrong." Harry told him, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"So?" Yugi said softly. Hermione had appeared and she nodded her head once.

"Yugi's right, we are still going to do this. It doesn't matter that it is illegal now, this almost makes it more important, we'll just have to be more careful." After this short speech she went back to scribbling on a piece of parchment. Her eyes had once again gained that slightly fanatical gleam, despite this Harry had to ask. "What is that?" He nodded towards the parchment in her hands.

Hermione didn't even spare him a glance as they settled down at the Gryffindor table. "It's a list of questions. I figure I won't get much of a chance to ask them, so I had better write them down as I think of them and then I will be able to quiz Yami better next time we see him."

Ron laughed around a mouthful of bacon, "I think you're barmy if you want to ask him questions. Who wants to learn more about...?" Harry cut him off with a sudden and very fake coughing fit. From Ron and Hermione's reactions last night he didn't think that the word Shade needed to be mentioned.

Hermione gave Ron the flat look she reserved for them only when they insulted SPEW and went back to her list.

Yugi giggled over his glass of orange juice. Out of the corner of Harry's eye he noticed a slender line of shadows tickling Yugi gently from under the table. Harry blinked and turned his head, the shadows became less defined when he looked at them directly. Still he wondered how he had not noticed them before. Harry considered the point before reaching over and taking the quill from Hermione's hand, he wrote carefully on the bottom of the parchment.

_Are you letting us see you?_

Hermione's head snapped around and she looked at Yugi and the barely visible wisp of Shade and nodded.

They headed once again to their classes, but Harry found himself distracted. Part of him was thinking about their planned bit of Umbridge defiance. Harry was both excited and nervous about his part in their new group. He was also keeping a close eye out for signs of Yami. Apparently the Shade was not following them around because until they reached Defence Against the Dark Arts he saw nothing of him.

Hermione had been a little put out that Yami hadn't appeared during their break or at lunch, her list of questions was becoming quite formidable. Harry privately couldn't wait to see the expression on Yami's face when she confronted him with it.

However as Harry was walking into the classroom, he looked around. Yugi had just left his side and was dancing lightly down the corridor. Harry paused and watched. As the elf approached a statue Yami stepped out from behind it and picked him up. The Shade turned his red eyes to Harry and tilted his head. Harry grinned; he guessed that Yugi had a babysitter who he was quite happy with. Harry turned on his heel and went into the classroom.

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Yami could tell that the three humans were waiting up specifically to speak with him, so he hung around. Originally he had planned to explore out into the forest, but he had promised to answer the female's questions. As the number of human children in the room dwindled Yami amusing himself making shapes on the ceiling and walls. Roaring dragons, cloaked dementors danced across the wall with each one causing at least one human to yelp in surprise, before grinning foolishly.

Yugi made an irritable noise and looked at him. The three humans peered into the corner where he was currently hovering. The other male spoke, "How do you know where he is?"

The last of the children had gone upstairs so Yami drew his shadows together and stepped toward them. "We are always aware of each other." He informed them.

The humans jumped and Harry grinned slightly, "Is there some way you can warn us when you are about to appear out of nowhere?"

Yami tilted his head. "I am not appearing out of nowhere. My normal state of existence is as a shadow, taking the form of a human requires effort. However it does seem to make you more comfortable." The last point being a request from Yugi, of course.

Harry nodded and motioned for him to sit. Yami hesitated for a moment, but finally he settled uneasily on the chair. The three of them studied him for a moment as though they were unsure of themselves. Finally the female began, "Well I guess I just ask then?"

Yami tilted his head and interrupted, "I am aware of Harry's name, but what are you two called?" He may as well get this part over and done with.

They both blinked at him, the female replied, "I'm Hermione and he's Ron." Yami repeated the names softly, tasting them and memorising them. He still didn't like using names, but in human conversation he admitted it was easier. "Continue." He said, leaning back into the chair and watching her without blinking. Yami liked doing that. It unnerved humans.

"Well I suppose..." She consulted a piece of parchment before going on. "Why do Shades kill people? Aren't we more useful to you alive?"

Despite himself Yami was impressed, it was an intelligent question. "We prefer you to live, however our magic fights when we are near each other. Shade magic is more powerful than wizard magic and as a result our magic overpowers yours. Somehow this results in your deaths." He shrugged, "That in itself is not a bad thing as death is something that humans fear beyond all other actions. For a human to die from our presence is the ultimate high."

She, Hermione, Yami reminded himself, put another question forward immediately. "Then how come no one has died here with you here?"

"Because Yugi is here, his magic and essence are a balance against my presence, thus preventing you from being harmed by my presence among you. Without him you would all be feeling very frightened and angry."

Hermione frowned slightly. "That reminds me, why do you look like Yugi? You said you were here because you had to follow him, why?"

Yami considered the point. How to explain the complexities of a bond that he himself didn't truly understand? "When Yugi was born, he called to me. I do not know how and neither does he. Somehow, through some of the ancient magics I assume, we were bound. I look like him because of that bond. It normally takes Shades a few years to learn to take human form, and many more to learn to alter that form to another. However almost instantly this became the only human form that I could take." That would have to do and though Hermione seemed to be thinking very hard she didn't ask another question.

Ron leant forwards instead, "How come we can see you now?" Harry nodded and turned his attention back to Yami from where it had been focused on Yugi. Yami considered the question; he had been unaware that the other two were able to see him now. "I am unsure. Harry's bond to Yugi has slowly increased his sensitivity to my presence; he has been catching glimpses of me for some time now. As for you two, perhaps it is simply that you are now aware of me and are looking for me. I will have to be careful of that. Generally I have found humans fairly blind to my presence, the more so for those who have no magic."

"Muggles." Ron said, Yami frowned at him in question causing the human to start and jump in with an explanation. "Muggles are people with no magic." Yami nodded his understanding and turned back to Hermione, who consulting the long piece of parchment in her hands. That paper told Yami that this session was going to have to extend over several nights.

"Okay, how many Shades are there, if I'm going to get you representation then I need to know my statistics." Her voice had become matter-of-fact, something Yami had begun to associate with a bad thing in this human.

Despite this the question was an easy one. "I do not know. We are solitary by nature. A Shade will set up a territory or take control of one that is already established and remain there until we are forced from it, either by another Shade or by you humans. I do know that within a day's travel in any direction of this place there is only one other Shade." Yami couldn't help his voice changing slightly at the thought of Bakura, but he forced his mind away from his enemy and drew his magic back in.

As usual when Yami was distracted his human body began to fade back into the shadows that it was meant to be. The humans had all twitched and their hands had reached for their wands.

"Oh, well I suppose then human magic affects Shades." Hermione began to cross of a question as Yami answered her. "Most human magic does not affect us. The spells that are placed on human dwellings discourage our presence by producing an opposing effect to our magic, however as you can see they cannot truly stop us. No other spell will affect us."

"What about the Avada Kedavra curse?" Harry asked, he had been quiet during the interrogation. Yami thought that was because it was the female who was truly interested. However his words brought back a not so pleasant memory. "Yes the killing curse works against us, but not in the same way that it works on humans. It does not kill us. I do not think we can actually die as humans do, however it greatly weakens and pains us. To a point where we are not longer able to attack or offer harm. I have been hit with it once before and I have no real wish to repeat the experience."

Hermione looked up and Yami immediately regretted his last statement. "Who cursed you?"

Yami rose to his feet in the sort of blindingly fast movement that he hated elves using, all three wizards reached for their wands automatically. "That is enough for tonight." He drew his shadows back and left the common room.

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Harry was starting to get desperate; they still hadn't found a place to practice. According to Yugi, Yami was searching the castle for somewhere appropriate. However most of the places that the Shade had found were too difficult to get too, guarded as they were by very powerful old spells, too easily found, or impossible to locate again. It wasn't until late on Thursday night that the answer came to him, from a most unlikely source.

Harry was once again sitting up late, he was alone in the common room. Well when he said alone he meant that there were no other students there. Yugi and Yami were sitting by the fire. Harry didn't know what they were doing. Most of what Yugi did made no sense to him, but Yami seemed to understand the games.

Harry was becoming used to the Shade's presence, but Hermione and Ron were both still very wary of him. When Harry had pressed them for a reason this morning Ron had told him uncomfortably. "He makes me feel weird, cold and nervous." Hermione had nodded.

Harry, currently stuck on a paragraph of the uses of griffon blood in potions, looked over at the two figures by the fire. As though his eyes were a tap on the shoulder, both of them turned and met his gaze. Harry shivered faintly, Yugi's eyes gleamed like gemstones in the flickering shadows given off by the fire, soft and warm, but Yami's eyes shone in an entirely different way. They seemed to be a focus point for the darkness, as though they in themselves were far darker than the room around him, and yet Harry could see their blood red depths as clear as day. Harry pushed aside the feeling and put forward his question. "Yami, Ron and Hermione say that you make them uncomfortable, but I don't notice it?" He left the sentence hanging.

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Yami raised an eye brow, he had been aware that all the other human children were affect by his presence here. It was why he was trying to spend more time away from their sleeping places. Had Yugi been an adult his bright soul would have totally masked the effect of Yami's magic, but as he was only a child his magic could only dim the effects. So it was a surprise to him that Harry was not affected at all. Yami rose and moved over to Harry, as usual the boy didn't flinch or blink, he treated Yami as though he were another human. "I don't know why you are not affected, may I try something?" It felt odd asking permission to use magic on the humans, but Yugi had insisted.

The elf moved over as well, taking his usual place on Harry's lap. Yami leant forwards and reached out with his own magic to touch Harry, however the shadowy tendrils slid off the human like water off glass. Yami frowned faintly and tried again. The result was the same. Then Yami looked at Yugi. The elf was giving him that look again.

Yami held his face in repose so that Harry wouldn't realise how daft the Shade had been. Of course Yugi would protect his parent from Yami's presence with more powerful magic than he would with anyone else.

Yami drew a magic filter across his eyes and instantly Harry blazed with spells. To Yami's eyes they were amethyst the same colour as Yugi's eyes, the colour his longer lasting spells always were. Yami shook his head and stepped back, removing the filter. "Yugi is protecting you, and before you ask, he cannot protect the others. His magic is not strong enough when compared to mine. Also he has not the link with your friends as he has with you." Harry blinked and nodded, he opened his mouth to ask another question. However Yami had sensed someone coming towards them. He dissolved his human form and found a dark corner, just moments before another elf appeared in the room.

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Harry stared as Dobby appeared in the common room with a loud crack. That had been close. He was glad that Yami was considerably more sensitive to the movements of people around the castle than Harry was, otherwise they would be in all kinds of trouble. Harry grinned at the House Elf, he expected Dobby to throw himself at Harry as he usually did, however Dobby's attention seemed to be entirely fixated on Yugi. The little elf giggled and waved, Dobby nearly fell over his own feet. "Dobby, what's wrong." Harry asked.

Dobby turned his huge eyes onto Harry now and gave him a delighted look. "Dobby is very happy to see Harry Potter again sir. Dobby has been hoping that he would see Harry Potter soon, he was just coming to clean."

Harry glanced at Yugi, Dobby hadn't answered Harry's question and Harry got the feeling that Yugi was behind it. He decided that there was no point asking. Yugi's answers to questions he didn't want to answer were normally painfully complex or impossibly vague. Instead he examined Dobby, the House Elf appeared to be wearing everything that Hermione had ever knitted that Yugi hadn't kept himself. Harry had to wonder how the elf was still able to move around wearing that much wool. "Dobby are you doing all the cleaning yourself?"

The knobbly kneed elf nodded seriously. "The others are not happy about the clothes being left out, they finds it insulting. Dobby doesn't mind, it lets him meet Harry Potter." Under all the woolly hats Dobby's ears quivered with his excitement and his eyes flickered ever so faintly towards Yugi. Harry grinned. "Well it is good to see you again Dobby, but I think I need to go to bed." The House Elf nodded and rocked back on his sock encased feet.

Harry felt a gentle touch on his neck and Yugi wriggled around tickling Harry with his long hair. Then his tiny ward spoke into his ear, so softly Harry nearly didn't hear him. "Ask him." Harry blinked it took him a moment to realise what Yugi was suggesting that he ask Dobby then it struck him. "Hey Dobby, I don't suppose you know somewhere in Hogwarts that a group of about thirty students could meet and practice magic without being found by the teachers?"

Dobby considered for a moment and then a smile lit up his face. "Dobby has the perfect spot Harry Potter, the Room of Requirement."

"What's that and how do we get there." Harry asked eagerly leaning forwards.

"It is a room that is only there when it is needed." Dobby went on to explain just how Harry was supposed to get to the room and how to access its magic.

Harry lay in bed that night, Yugi curled up next to him. A darker patch of shadows near the window told him that Yami watched over them both. The warm feeling inside him was back, they had a place to practice where Umbridge couldn't find them. Harry grinned in the dark, even Yami's presence couldn't dim this fire.

* * *

It took Harry, Ron and Hermione the rest of the next day to track down everyone and tell them where to meet and how to get there. Most of them could hardly wait until next Wednesday. Hermione had decided that it would be best that they introduced Yami later, suggesting that they make sure people were still going to turn up before unleashing the Shade's new magic on them. Hermione also thought that it would be better if they were certain that all of them were able to use wizard wand magic properly before they allowed people to learn a more volatile and difficult magic.

Harry could tell it was killing her to wait though. Yami had refused flatly to teach them anything until it was the whole group. According to him he wasn't overly skilled at this magic. He understood the principles, but the actual use was difficult for him. Yami claimed that Yugi was much better at earth magic, but as the elf still refused to talk to anyone but the four of them, it was up to Yami to teach. Harry wasn't sure just how Yami felt about that, it was hard to judge the Shade's mood, to Harry he was always either blank faced or amused. The latter generally meant a bad thing.

Wednesday seemed to creep towards them. The weekend was once again filled with homework, Harry was now almost caught up on everything. Then Monday came around again and bit him on the ass. Umbridge assigned them an essay on nothingness, how he was supposed to write three feet on the theory of the performance of the stunning spell was beyond him. Harry forced himself to keep his head down, he gritted his teeth and imagined giving Umbridge to Yami for his birthday with a big bow on her head and a note saying, _have fun_. The image came so vividly to his mind that he had to bite down on his tongue to stop from laughing.

After Potions Harry considered adding Snape to the package, making it a combined Christmas present. He was certain that Yami would appreciate the gesture. Yugi had once again spelled his flagon of potion, though by this time Snape had given up trying to destroy Harry's potions and was now just taking points off, in a little while Harry was sure Snape would just take points off Harry whenever he breathed.

Snape had yet to give Harry a detention, but Harry was sure that the professor was wary of how Yugi would react. Everyone knew that Umbridge's office still exploded and had done so beginning the day after Harry's last detention. The hated teacher would periodically go into her office to see if the magic was still active. It was.

Yami had become rather smug upon hearing the fourth years discussing Umbridge's latest attempt to enter her office. Harry was sure the spell was his and he didn't think that the Shade was going to turn it off any time soon.

The one thing that Harry noticed more than anything was the fact that Malfoy was avoiding Yugi like the plague. Though there was no way for him to know that it was Yugi who had caused his terror filled night, Harry realised that Malfoy connected the tiny elf with the dark Shade who had haunted him. Ron still thought that it was the best thing Yami had done since he got there.

When Wednesday finally made its way around, Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way cautiously to the corridor where Dobby had told them the Room of Requirement was. All the way down Harry had checked and rechecked the Marauders Map for Filtch and Mrs Norris as well as any other patrolling teachers. Added to this, Yugi danced ahead of them checking around corners for ghosts and magical traps, while Yami lingered behind them his shadows ready to take down anything that came from that direction.

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Yami followed the humans. As they got closer to the room the House Elf had suggested as a practice ground Yami got the feeling that he had been here before. However after exploring so many of the similar passages within the castle Yami couldn't bring to mind which time it had been or what had been there.

More of the human children who had been present in the village appeared from around the corner moments later. Yami watched as they all stepped through the door that had appeared in the wall. Yami followed them inside carefully. Harry held the door open for a moment longer than he really needed to allowing Yami to slip in unnoticed by the others who were looking around the room in interest.

Finding a secluded corner Yami examined the magic in the room. He again had the odd feeling that he had explored this part of the castle before, that he had been in this room before, but he was still unable to place it. Yami shook off the feeling and examined the magic through his filters as Harry began to talk.

The magic was primarily human, though there was a good quantity of elfin magic and earth magic underlying it to lend longevity to the spells. There were a few other magics in there as well, Shade included, it was similar to the building the children had met in. There were also vast quantities of human magic over the top of everything else almost completely hiding the other powers in this room.

Harry was explaining something, he was nervous, but he hid it well. Yami watched as the humans began to practice a spell that made their wands jump from their hands. The frustration that many of them were experiencing amused him for a while. Yugi was sitting on a cushion watching with interest. Yami forced himself to concentrate on the spells and tried to work out just how skilled each of the humans were. After watching for a few hours he had learnt some very important things.

Firstly, Hermione was probably the most skilled human magician he had ever encountered. Second that he really wanted to meet the two humans who he had learnt were Ron's brothers. They had spent a good part of the lesson spelling other people with interesting results. Finally he learnt that most of these humans would not be very good at using the earth magic.

There were only two who would have any skill, other than Harry himself, one was a long gangly human who seemed to be in a constantly nervous state and the other a vague female. The first didn't seem to be overly skilled at wand magic, but the earth magic in the room was drawn strongly to him and to a slightly lesser degree to the female. Yami slid over to Hermione; she was watching the others pack up. Yami spoke quietly into her ear; she started slightly, but didn't look around. "You will need to tell me all their names, as the spirit of Hogwarts I should know their names by now."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Yami interrupted, "Not now, the only one I wish to know currently is the human who is not very good at magic and that female."

For a moment she looked confused. "Oh you mean Neville and the girl is Luna." Yami went back to his corner until all the others had left. Once the door had closed Harry turned to him. Yami was reminded like a slap in the face that Harry was almost completely able to see him no matter where his shadows were hidden. Yami drew himself into human form and stepped over a cushion to stand in front of them. He looked up into their faces. "Yes?" He added that double timbre to his voice, enjoying the flash of fear on Ron and Hermione's face. Before Yugi poked him in the leg and sung a gentle scold.

"Well what do you think?" Harry asked his face eager. Yugi went over to his parent and Harry picked Yugi up without even thinking about it.

Yami shrugged; there was no point in being anything but blatant. "I think teaching you all the earth magic will be a very difficult if not impossible task." He waited while all three of the humans protested loudly and once they fell into a slightly sullen silence he went on. "None the less I will try. I suggest that you introduce me next time, and we spend at least half of each lesson on the earth magic." His tone left no room for argument so the three of them nodded. Harry drew out the magic piece of paper which told him where everyone in the school was.

Harry's face fell and there was a flash of chagrin. "There are four teachers between us and the common room. Everyone else got there safe enough, but we are stuck."

Yami examined their faces and Yugi glanced at him a request on his face. Yami huffed as Ron made some silly suggestion.

"I will take you." The Shade grumbled.

Before any of them could ask or more likely protest, Yami dropped into shadow form and picked them all up. He gathered them into layers of magic and concealing darkness. Yami knew from experience that humans hated travelling this way, not that this bothered him, but he was also aware that it was not overly comfortable for Yugi either.

For this reason Yami took the quick route, he went out a window that had appeared conveniently and went up the side of the building towards the tower where the humans slept. Yami could feel the three of them panicking in his grip. They were able to see where he was going, and were now staring into a hundred foot drop to the ground. Yami slid through the window, something that was particularly difficult to do with four passengers and dropped them on the carpet near the fire.

Hermione staggered and nearly fainted, holding onto the window sill like a lifeline. Ron sat down very suddenly. Harry had gone pale and was clutching Yugi very tightly.

"Please don't ever do that again." Harry gasped out. Yami chuckled softly; he was unable to stop himself. The emotions leaking off the three were wonderful. Yugi clicked his tongue, but didn't say anything; after all Yami had been helping. It took the three humans several minutes to recover enough to head up to bed. Yami settled by the fire and considered how in the name of the shadows that had borne him he, a Shade was going to teach a group of juvenile humans ancient elfin magic.

* * *

_Okay that last part was fun to write, I think that would be a very cool way to travel, but I didn't think that Harry, Ron and Hermione would agree with me, especially if they weren't ready for it._


	14. The Game

_Sorry about the wait on this one. I've been away for a while, so this chapter took me a little longer to finish than normal, and then I had no internet to update with. _

_However now I'm back and I'm on holidays so you may see more than one chapter in a week for a while depends on how much writing I get done._

Chapter 14: The Game

Harry stared out into the crystal clear if blustery morning. It was a perfect day for Quidditch, and their first game against Slytherin was going to be a big one. Harry felt surprisingly alert despite the fact that he had sat up late explaining the rules Quidditch to a very interested Yami.

Harry pulled on his robes and looked over at Ron checking to see if his friend was ready for his first game. Ron, however, was looking deathly pale under his freckles. Harry felt pity rush up; his best friend had been getting steadily worse over the last few days.

Ron was not used to the excitement and jibbing that went on the week before a Quidditch match. The Slytherins had been giving him so much grief that Yugi had had to have a long conversation with Yami to prevent him from clobbering the other team, especially Malfoy.

Apparently the Shade had decided that the three of them were his responsibility now. As a result he got very growly and irritable when they were threatened and he didn't seem to be overly fond of the Slytherins. Hermione found it odd that a creature that fed on dark emotions didn't want the three people he was around the most to feel those emotions.

Harry was privately sure that it was because Yugi didn't like it when they were unhappy. Yami seemed to go out of his way to keep Yugi happy.

Yugi had been sitting on Ron's bed and he now climbed into Ron's arms and hugged him. The red-head gave him a slightly wobbly smile, but obediently carried him down stairs to breakfast. Harry didn't say anything, he recognised the look on Ron's face, if he opened his mouth he was going to throw up. Harry had felt that way before.

Hermione was already waiting in the Great Hall and under the table Harry caught sight of Yami's shadows and gave the Shade a friendly wink. To which Harry got a flash of amused red eyes.

Harry tried as hard as he could to get Ron to eat something, but Ron only picked at the toast and bacon constantly looking up at the green and silver sea that was the Slytherin table.

As the game time came around Harry handed Yugi over to Hermione, the elf was rugged up to his eyeballs against the cold wind outside. His favourite woolly hat was on his head and a scarf that Hermione had knitted him to match covered up the rest of his face. Yugi clapped his hands, the only bare skin he was showing and gave both Harry and Ron a bright smile, some of the colour returned to Ron's face. And as they walked away to the cheers of the Gryffindors and the roar of the lion of Luna's hat, Harry could feel the wonderful warm glow inside him that Yugi's brilliant smile created.

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Yami followed Hermione and the rest of the humans out to the gaming area. Though he was loath to go far from Yugi in a crush of humans like this, he was too visible in his shadow form in this weather. Yami tossed up hovering over the children's heads again as he had done in the village and taking his human form. Yami decided that with the bright sun he would be even more noticeable so he fell to the back of the line and drew himself so quickly into human form that his newly formed head hurt.

Weaving his shadows rapidly before the humans around him could notice, Yami exchanged his normal black leather clothing for a long black robe similar to the ones that the humans wore. He only had a small store of clothing in his magic, and was finally glad that he had kept the robe from his time working for Voldemort.

Yami wriggled through the crowd, for once appreciating his small frame, until he was standing next to Hermione. She threw an absent glance at him and then did a quick double take.

Yugi peered around her arms to see him. Hermione hissed softly at him. "Your eyes!". Yami sighed but closed his eyes briefly and with Yugi's help once again wove the illusion that drew his eyes back to the dark violet of a younger Shade. Yami blinked rapidly, changing the colour of his eyes dimmed his vision slightly. It was nothing too inconvenient, just slightly bothersome.

Yami turned his attention to the game which had started with a roar of noise from the humans around him. He had been right; it was more exciting when played properly.

The humans were fast. Their method of transportation was crude, but definitely effective. Most of them were also quite skilled, all except Ron who looked as though he were about to faint. The feelings coming from him was so strong that Yami could pick up on his energies from where he stood on the other side of the field. Yami resisted licking his lips by biting his tongue.

Yami glanced around the field, Harry had told him last night that there were four balls. Yami could see the red quaffle, passed between the players and he kept catching glimpses of the two black balls that were his favourites. Yami scanned the field for the tiny golden ball that Harry was supposed to be catching. Yami spotted it flitting around the crowd, not a single human had noticed it. Yami watched the ball's progress for a few minutes, at the same time keeping an eye on the movement of the red ball.

Someone was using magic to speak loudly, commentating most likely, but the magic blurred the words to Yami's ears preventing him from understanding. The crowd around him cheered with delight and disappointment, depending on the stage of the game.

As the game continued Ron became worse. He was playing incredibly poorly even Yami could see that. Yugi was watching with a faintly desperate look on his face. The look told Yami that he would be doing something to help. He grumbled softly causing the human girl on his other side to give him an odd look and edge away.

Yugi looked over at him; Hermione's eyes were still focused intently on the game. /Please./ That was all, despite that Yami felt his will waver under the pressure of Yugi's gleaming eyes. Yami looked away, it didn't help he could feel Yugi's eyes drilling into him so Yami sighed and nodded. It would be more interesting than pretending to sleep or following the humans around. /Fine, but I do it my way, you will not intervene/. Yugi nodded and went back to watching Harry.

Yami knew that the elf didn't like this game; he thought it was dangerous for his parent. Yugi could be a bit of a mollycoddler.

A roar went through the crowd and Yami turned his attention to the two Seekers, Harry and the marked human. They had both shot off towards the golden ball which had been dashing around the ankles of one of the other players.

Yami leant forwards with the rest of the crowd, allowing himself a better look. The excitement in the air was dampening to his senses, designed as they were for much darker emotions. Despite this the emotions of the two players were very interesting. The two humans were neck and neck, both reaching straining. And then Harry's fingers closed around the fluttering golden ball. A roar of pleasure went up from the gold and scarlet mass around Yami and across the arena the green and silver yelled their own anger. The two different and equally powerful emotions made Yami's vision swim.

Then there was a flash of black and Yugi gave a high pitched shriek. Yami and all the humans flinched away from the flash of elfin magic. Someone had hit one of the bludgers towards Harry. A shield flared up around the startled human, glowing a thousand colours as Yugi drew on every reserve he had.

The little elf was struggling in Hermione's arms. Despite this when Yami moved forward ready to crush the human who was now being severely admonished, she managed to get in his way. "Leave it be, the teachers will take care of things." Hermione's eyes were slightly wild and Yami could sense her terror at intercepting him, but she stood firm.

Yami growled faintly at her, but backed off. The players were making their way to the ground. Though Yami could hear nothing of what was being said down on the ground, he could easily sense the emotions which allowed energy to filter into his system. People were whispering and pointing as the two teams struggled against each other, then Harry lunged forwards and slammed his fist into the marked humans jaw. Yami couldn't resist, he grinned. "Nice punch." Hermione however had gone pale.

Realising that his input wasn't really wanted Yami glanced around. He was starting to get some odd looks. It was time for him to disappear. Without seeming to, he spoke quietly into Hermione's ear, though it did annoy him a bit to have to lean up to do so. "I will go now, with their attention not taken by the game the other humans are beginning to notice a stranger in their midst."

Hermione nodded slightly. "Find Harry, I'll take Yugi back to the common room."

It was a request and one that Yami was willing to follow as Harry and Ron's two brothers were led off their ground by a very angry teacher.

Yami's time today had filled his energy reserves to the brim, but that didn't mean he was going to pass up the opportunity to get in on a furious argument. What could he say, sometimes you ate when you weren't hungry.

It took Yami some time to locate Harry; the witch had not taken him to her usual places. When he finally did locate him, the adult female who he had already visited was there. She was pleased, the other adult was furious, as were the three students. There was a lot of yelling going on.

Both the adults were now talking. Yami had only been able to slide a section of his shadows under the door, allowing him to see what was going on. He followed the emotions of the conversation; it was easier than trying to listen to what was actually being said.

It was strange, but after having spent so long with the elves it was taking more concentration than normal for him to understand the human languages. Yami made a mental note to ask Yugi about it some time. He dreaded the other option, he had only gone to ask Bakura how something with the bond worked once, he didn't want to do it again.

His musings were interrupted by everyone turning to leave so Yami manoeuvred himself out from under the door. As the three children passed him Yami leapt into Harry's robes, wrapping his shadow form around the boy's neck. Usually this was a good way to strangle a human; however Yugi's protective spells were strong enough that Harry only shivered faintly as though something cold had touched him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry trudged up to the common room. Yami's presence around his throat was making him shiver; the Shade was cold. Thankfully as soon as Harry pushed open the portrait Yami detached himself and slid over to his favourite corner. A hand tugged on Harry's Quidditch robe. Yugi was still wearing his outdoor clothing. His big eyes were sad, Yugi knew what had happened, Harry was glad he didn't need to explain it.

Ron looked at him sadly, Fred and George had come in before him and Harry could see that they had explained what had happened. "I'm sorry mate. It was my fault, I played terribly." Harry shook his head, but there wasn't much feeling in it. Ron was right he had played badly, but that wasn't what was making him feel so dreadful. No more Quidditch, how was he going to cope? Harry lifted Yugi up onto his hip. As he began to climb up to bed despite the fact that he hadn't had any lunch, he whispered to the elf. "Would you ask Yami to go away?"

Yugi chimed softly and rubbed his face in Harry's shoulder. After a moment the heavy feeling faded and Harry knew that Yami had moved away from the dorms and common room. Harry curled up on his bed, scrunching his eyes closed. Yugi began to sing softly. It was a song Harry had never heard before, but it was soothing and slowly he drifted off to sleep.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami returned to the humans sleeping quarters later that night. He had spent the first part of the night setting up for the second part, as far from Harry as he could get. Yugi's protection spells stopped Yami's magic from working on Harry normally, but when the human felt as bad as he did, even Yugi's magic couldn't stop a Shade's natural enhancement of fear, desolation and anger.

Yugi lifted his head and looked at him now, his eyes flickered to Ron and he nodded gently. The tiny elf settled down again, the movement told Yami all he needed to know, he was free to do as he would with the human.

Yami moved over and drew his shadows into human form. He ached a bit from having to do that so often recently, but he shook the sensation off. Placing one slender hand over Ron's mouth Yami shook the boy awake. Ron came to with a start, his lips moved against Yami's palm. The Shade motioned for him to follow; confused and a little fearful Ron obeyed him. It said something for the human's slightly foolish trust that he followed without even moving to wake Harry.

Yami led the way silently, even the portraits were asleep at this time. Not that it mattered, they didn't hurt the students, only intruders. Ron fumbled for his wand, bringing a light to the tip. Yami didn't grudge the human that. The light or lack of light in a place didn't affect Yami's ability to see, but he knew that humans senses were not as strong as his were. Once or twice Ron went to speak, but Yami quietened him. When they reached the changing rooms for the Quidditch grounds Ron stared at him. "What are we doing here?"

Yami glared in the darkness and saw Ron flinch, "I am going to teach you to play better, and to master your fears. Get dressed." He knew enough of human custom to know that they were more comfortable with clothes on.

Ron stared at him until Yami growled at him, then the human leapt and pulled his robes while Yami waited impatiently. Ron followed Yami out to the grounds and mounted his broom. Ron glanced over at Yami, "How are you going to fly?"

"I will take my true form, before hand I will explain the rules." Yami said. He couldn't fly in human form, the laws of physics took control as soon as his essence took a more solid form.

"You will defend the hoops. I will send balls to score against you, you will stop them. I saw you doing a drill similar when you practiced the other day. The only difference this time will be that you cannot see the balls that I throw as well as you can see the red ball that you play with. Also for every goal I score I will play faster."

Ron nodded and rose into the air taking his position in front of the three goal hoops. Yami rose into the air as well, his shadows mingling pleasantly with the dark night. Now for the final part of the game. Yami spread out his senses and activated the spells he had placed around the grounds earlier that night.

While the grounds remained dark there were now voices calling jeers and insults from the stands around them. Ron looked around and Yami flexed his own magic, the magic that encouraged fear within humans. Sweat broke out on Ron's forehead. Yami sent a ball of magic towards one of the hoops. Ron didn't see it until too late, his fingers skimmed the side knocking it off course, but it still sailed through the hoop.

Yami tossed another ball and a few moments later he threw another one. Ron lunged and caught the first however the magic dissipated as he caught it and this threw him off balance. Ron was still staring at his empty hands when the second ball flew past his ear and into the hoop. Ron looked up and his jaw tightened, determination plastered all over his face though his eyes remained fearful.

Yami was unconcerned; he threw another two balls this time closer together. Ron missed both. Yami sped up. He sent two then three balls rapidly towards the goals. It was fun, the more Ron missed the worse he got. Well Yami hadn't expected him to get better immediately and Yami would keep doing this until Ron got better. Yami was a very stubborn teacher.

Yami threw two balls at once, and to his surprise Ron blocked one with the brush of his broom while he caught the other between his hands. The shadows dissolved in his grip and Yami dropped to the ground. "That is enough for tonight." He called, knowing that Ron wouldn't be able to see him moving. Ron followed him down. "But I was just getting it." The human complained.

Yami grumbled, this sound was along the lines of an oncoming thunder storm or earthquake, it wasn't something you argued with. Ron almost ran into the change rooms. Yami followed still in his shadow form, he couldn't be bothered with the effort it took to take human form. Besides the fact that in two days he would be holding the form for a few hours was making him want to avoid being solid as much as he could.

Ron appeared once again wearing his sleeping clothes. "Can we do this more often?" He asked.

Yami had to reply, his shadows didn't have a head to nod with. He was starting to appreciate the various parts of the human body and their more useful functions. "We will do this once a week at night until you can play consistently, but you will not mention it to anyone."

Ron started, "Not even Harry?"

"Not even Harry." Yami headed back the way they had come. As they headed for the sleeping part of the castle they nearly walked into the non-magical human. Thankfully Yami had sensed him at the last moment and folded backwards wrapping Ron in his shadows.

Ron struggled, but after a moment caught sight of the other human through the dim shadows that made up Yami's extremities and he froze. The human walked past without even glancing their way. After the human had faded from Yami's senses he released Ron. The child whispered at him. "He really can't see you." Ron seemed surprised.

Yami didn't reply but urged him faster; once they were into the common room they would be alright. The picture that guarded the way into the room stirred only enough to open to allow Ron through. Yami had checked earlier in the evening. This picture was spelled to protect the way into their sleeping areas, not to give away the students who were outside when they were not allowed to be.

Yami settled into his corner and noticed something interesting. He had been in this corner so often now that the walls around him had started to pick up some of his magic, weaving the extra power into itself. Yami had not yet taken the time to examine the magic that was used to create this castle, it felt like human magic, but this suggested something more intricate. Yami drew every filter he could over his eyes and stared in amazement at the result.

Underneath the layers and layers of human magic was magic from every other race that existed, elf, dragon, giant, merfolk, centaur, Shade the list went on. This place was incredible. It was designed to protect with every protection spell in every language in every power that had ever existed. Yami rocked backwards and considered the options that gave him.

* * *

_Next chapter, what you've all been waiting for: Yami teaches, this should be interesting_

_I do have a request, if you can think of any questions about things to do with Shades, or Yami, that Harry and Co. could ask him, could you send them my way. It's unbelievably hard to ask questions about something that you are making up. _

_There probably won't be another whole chapter question session, but a few questions here and there might be needed, especially if there is something that hasn't made sense or hasn't been explained very well._


	15. The Next Lesson

_Thank you for your questions, they have been amazingly helpful. Some of them may appear soon, others later; it all depends where I can work them in so they seem like a logical part of the story. _

_There will be a little dedication at the start of the chapter if your question is going to make an appearance, in thanks for your help._

_Myriad of Willows, this one's yours._

Chapter 15: The Next Lesson

Yami made his way down to their practice room with the three humans and Yugi. They were going early, to prepare. Yami would be taking most of this lesson. He still wasn't sure about how he was going to teach the students, but he had a promise from Yugi that the elf would help, even if it was only mental instructions.

They stepped into the room; Hermione immediately got out a book and settled on a cushion. Ron and Harry sat down as well, their eyes on Yami both of them still found it interesting to watch him take human form. Yami didn't mind, it wasn't an overly revealing process.

Yami braced himself and gathered his shadows into human form. He solidified himself with additional layers of spells; it was uncomfortable but necessary if he wanted to work with the earth magic without dissolving in moments of distraction. Yami placed two filters over his vision. One allowed him to see the earth magic and the other allowed him to determine the internal strength of a human.

With these in place Yami leant over and allowed Yugi to pass his hands over Yami's eyes. The elf would take all the effort of colouring Yami's eyes, again so Yami wouldn't change back and terrify the humans, as fun as they would be. Yami blinked a couple of times to make sure that his filters would still work under the colouring illusion. They did so he walked around the room, tracing the patterns of earth magic under the thick swaths of human spells. The large quantity of earth magic in this room would make teaching the magic easier.

Hermione frowned at her book. Yami glanced at the title, _Dark and Dangerous_. He rolled his eyes and Hermione glanced up at him curiously, "Your true form is a shadow isn't it?" Yami recognised the tone in her voice as one that meant he was going to get asked a very revealing and personal question.

"Yes." He replied, still testing out the spells on his form. He would still need to be able to use his own Shade magic while in this form. Yes he still could, though it was remarkably difficult.

"Well how do you have a physical form then? I mean you can't touch shadows so how can we touch you?" Hermione frowned, working back over that sentence again. Yami shrugged, he understood what she meant even if the two boys were now giggling inappropriately.

"My shadows are not like the shadows that are around you, those are a point where the light cannot reach to its full potential. My shadows are an essence, so they are denser. If you were to pass through my shadow form it would be a little like walking through water rather than air. I can't walk through solid objects, even in my shadow form. I am still a physical being."

"So how did you carry us then, water couldn't pick us up and move us around like that." Both the boys shivered as Hermione mentioned that, Yami grinned they were all trying to forget that little event.

"I used magic. Shades use magic like humans use muscle. When I am forced to make physical contact with a human, I use magic to create a sort of shield in the form of a body which is what you are feeling. Shades have the biggest reserves of magical energy of any creature purely because if we did not, we would not be able to interact with the world around us."

Hermione blinked, she obviously hadn't been expecting such a detailed answer. Yami turned his head sharply as he caught humans walking nearby. He turned and set his back to the wall, as he did he reviewed names and faces in his head.

The door opened and human children filtered in. All of them stared at him; some with curiosity, others with wariness. Yami hadn't bothered to change into his robes so he wore leather it was more comfortable and convenient. He met their curious eyes calmly and without blinking. After a few minutes everyone had arrived and were seating themselves on cushions. Harry got to his feet and cleared his throat, Harry was nervous and it took a great deal of effort not to smirk at him.

"Right, now we're all here. This is Yami. He's...well he's sort of the spirit of Hogwarts or at least that's what he tells us." Yami was impressed; Harry was a fairly good liar. The only trace of lies that Yami could detect was the faint flush in his cheeks, but that could be due to the fact that he still wasn't very good at speaking in front of people.

One of the boys in the group scoffed softly and Yami turned his head, fixing the boy with his gaze. The snicker died on his lips and he stammered out. "If you're the spirit of Hogwarts how come we've never seen you before?"

Yami hadn't considered that some of the students would question what he was, good thing his mind worked so fast. "I only appear to those children who truly need me and that is not often." Yami decided not to allow them time to think up more questions about him. He pushed away from the wall and stalked forwards. "I am here to teach you a different kind of magic. One that the wizard you call Voldemort cannot use, one that will protect you from all kinds of human magic." Yami let the intoxicating power of his deep voice wash over them. The girl called Luna was watching him vaguely. "Earth magic." She said softly.

Yami turned to her and studied her more closely as some of the other students laughed at her. Yugi hummed softly to him. Yami nodded, he had thought so, the girl had elfin blood in her veins. Not much, but enough that she sensed things that others didn't.

"Yes, earth magic." He replied, the other children around him shifted and a few of them giggled nervously most of them trying to hide confusion. Yami realised that an explanation was required, damn. He took a moment to consider before beginning.

"Earth magic is a very ancient form of magic; some believe it to be the original source of all magic. It is raw, basic and elemental and works purely through the will power of the person using it. Due to its nature it can be unpredictable and dangerous if you do not know what you are doing or do not have the strength to control it. As such you will not attempt to practice outside of this room." Yami used the explanation that the old elfin master has used to explain the magic to the village children, embellishing a little.

Yami paced in front of them. That was all they needed to know for now and if they didn't heed his warning he would find them and squash them. "Please find somewhere that you can sit and not touch anyone else and where you are comfortable." The humans all rearranged themselves, watching him with fear induced awe now. Yami paced between them, some of them leant away from him as he did. It would take them a while to gain any kind of trust for him. That in itself was an interesting feeling for him.

"Now relax your minds, allow them to drift and think of nothing. To use this magic you must have a clear mind. If you allow your mind to become distracted the magic will slide from your grip or explode in your faces. This magic is from outside of you, rather than the internal source that powers your own magic. To use it you must reach out for it." Yami was grateful he had spied on a few of the old masters lessons or he would have had nothing to work from. Yugi sent him mental congratulations; apparently he was doing well so far.

Some of the humans were genuinely trying, his three humans were Neville and Luna were as well. But the latter two were already a little in tune with the magic. Everyone else started out well and then did what most beginners did when learning to meditate. They started to twitch.

Yami passed around them. He continued speaking softly, encouraging them to blank their minds and to feel for the magic around them. It shouldn't be too difficult after all the magic ran in thick ropes around the whole building and with Yami and Yugi pulling it upwards away from the damping effects of the human spells which fed on it they should be able to sense it at least.

Many of the humans began to complain softly and Yami got annoyed. He created himself a long switch and was about to flick one of the children, when Yugi told him off very loudly and mentally, using words that something so young really shouldn't know. Yami dissolved the thin rod. "If you do not empty your minds you will never learn. This will also assist in learning your own human spells, but only if you CONCENTRATE." He snarled the last word, added the effective double timbre that always made Ron and Hermione flinch violently. Silence reigned.

Yami paced around towards Harry, smiling smugly. A vein of earth magic was twitching towards Harry; it was being pulled towards Neville sitting near him as well, their strengths waring to draw the power towards them. It would be interesting to see who won out. Neville had been born with the ability to use this magic, it was in his blood, but Harry had Yugi's own raw and impressive gift, if he could work out how to tap into it.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry felt odd, tingly. Since Yami had snarled at those students who had been talking there had been no sound. He had almost smiled at that. Their spirit of Hogwarts had a temper, but no one was willing to point it out. Harry peeked out from between his eyelids. A couple of people were asleep. Fred and George were following Yami with their eyes, awe all over their faces. Hermione was frowning in concentration; Harry didn't think she would be very good at thinking of nothing.

Harry let his mind drift without closing his eyes. Thoughts tumbled through his head, nothing sticking and the tingly feeling was back. Then Harry noticed something. Yugi had fallen into the meditation without any effort at all, but now Harry could see lines of glowing light flowing up from under the floor to twine around him.

Meditation forgotten Harry watching the intricate patterns that the light formed, a shadow fell over him and Yami appeared in the corner of his eye, his eyes were on Yugi as well. Yugi turned his head and studied them both, the power that he was gathering turned his eyes into endless glowing pools and his hair to rippling beams of multicoloured light.

Yami stepped between Harry and his elfin charge. "Mediate Harry."

Harry glanced up. He was slightly amused to see that sitting he still nearly came up to Yami's shoulders. Harry resisted the urge to laugh and closed his eyes again. Now when he emptied his mind Harry could feel something in the tingly feeling.

Try as he might though he couldn't get anything to come of it. Harry struggled with the magic sweating in his effort to make something happen for nearly half an hour. Yami called a stop. Students winced as they unfolded themselves. Some people nudged others who jerked and woke up.

Yami crouched on the floor in front of them. The way he sat suggested he could hold that pose for most of eternity. "Earth magic cannot simply be called up, it requires will power and an understanding of the magic itself. You need to know exactly what you want the magic to do before you call on it otherwise it will overpower you completely. By clearing your minds you can direct the magic as you wish it to be directed."

Yami shrugged and sat back on his haunches. He drew a hand in a graceful circle, magic pooled, glowing in his palm. Yami rolled his hand over and the magic flexed forming a shield that extended around him, it then rippled and formed into a solid beam of light that slammed into the wall behind them with enough force to make the walls shake. "That will be all for today, but we will do this each time you all meet."

Yami glanced over at Harry and nodded slightly. Harry, feeling a little flabbergasted, got to his feet and began to instruct everyone else on the stunning spell.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

As they practiced Yami moved around the room. He couldn't take his proper form again until everyone left, but he wanted to. He really didn't like staying in human form for this long. Yami's essence was beginning to ache and the slight blurring over his vision was starting to make him snappy.

As Yami paced past Yugi the elf rolled his eyes so far into the back of his head it made Yami wonder if he was able to see himself think. /Would you stop whinging, it's only a couple of hours, just a blip in your time span/.

Yami pushed his irritable thoughts to the back of his mind and tried to pull his attention back to the people around him. It was slightly easier to concentrate on them when he was standing right next to them with the humans throwing covert glances at him, but it was still not as easy as listening to Yugi.

Yami watched Ron's brothers trying to stun each other, well it was now or never. He pulled a strand of mer-magic out of the weaving in the walls, the spell creating a mirror between them. Their stunning spells bounced back at themselves and they ducked a moment too late, resulting in two chunks of lost hair. Both the humans turned to look at him; he smiled at them smugly and strolled past, hands in his pockets.

"Dastardly." One of them said with a lop-sided grin.

"Excellent." The other replied.

Before either of them could approach him Harry called a stop to the lesson. People began to file out, most of them thanking Harry as they went.

Harry turned back to Yami, but the Shade cut him off. "Go now if you do not wish to travel the same way again. You have no need to wait for me." Yami wanted to have a closer look at this room. It bothered him that he couldn't work out when he had been here.

The remaining humans left, Yugi tucked safely in Harry's arms. The elf removed the colouring spells as he left. Yami dissolved his physical body as soon as the door closed. He whipped around the room as fast as he could. As useful as the human appendages were, their bodies were also highly restrictive and decidedly uncomfortable.

After Yami had stretched his hypothetical legs he settled down in the centre of the room and drew a filter to detect earth magic over his vision. The magic flickered around in front of his sight. Yami frowned and followed the lines of power carefully. It ran in thick ropes. That was a lot of magic for such a little room. He considered what the House Elf had said about this room, that it became whatever it needed to be, nothing within the earth magic itself told him anything about changing the room. He considered what he knew of the different magic's.

Earth magic was basic; it wasn't designed for deceit, just power. Elfin magic was better at deceit, but it worked best within a forest. Within the stone walls their magic was severely limited. No in this situation the elves magic was a pathway between the energies of the earth magic and all the other powers. Mer-magic reflected providing the hiding spells, maybe that, dragon magic for the defences on the room, centaur magic would provide the power to sense what was needed. Magic colours were flashing in front of Yami's vision filters as they were exchanged and doubled over.

Then he stopped, he was being very thick tonight.

Yami removed all the filters and looked at the room with his normal vision. There was Shade magic here he had sensed it before and among all the magical creatures ever created, Shades were the most skilled at the art of deception, the art of illusion was after all a Shades greatest weapon.

Yami focused on the Shade spells and watched as they turned over, the room rolled and blurred around him. It became a broom closet, a bathroom, a tiny room with a bed and finally a cavernous room filled to the roof with stuff. Yami staggered backwards, an interesting thing to watch considering that he had no physical form. He had been here, now he remembered. This was the room where that thing was hidden.

Under all the layers of magic for protection, hiding and safety was something so dark and so wrong it made a Shade back off. Yugi's mind reached Yami's sending soothing thoughts. Yami backed further and found a place as far from the thing that he could without leaving the room. He had sensed something like this thing on Harry though weaker as though it were diluted. Yami didn't like it, but the layers and layers of magic prevented the poisonous dark from crossing out of this version of the room, so for the moment their practice room remained safe.

Yami shook himself and tugged on the spells again. They returned him to Harry's practice room. Yami made his way out of the door. Yugi was prodding him, but Yami turned the elf aside without really thinking. Maybe he was getting better at this bonding thing.

What was it that he had found there? Yami twitched, for the moment he would do nothing. It was bad practice to lunge into destroying things without knowing what you were up against.

* * *

_I'm not going to make Harry supremely good at earth magic. It sort of annoys me when Harry turns out to be good at everything. The only reason that he can use this magic as well as he can is because he is Yugi's parent and there has to be some advantage to looking after an elf. _

_There was a little hidden clue in this chapter, well, it wasn't really little, but unless you know what you are looking for you may pass over it, and no it wasn't the last bit, that was about a blunt as smashing your face with a brick. I give you guys more credit than that._


	16. Hagrid's Return

_Welcome to the second version of this chapter. The first one I wrote was hilarious, or at least I thought so. However after finishing it, I realised that it went nowhere, made little sense and contradicted a lot of things. So if parts of this chapter seem a little odd, sorry, it was finished in a bit of a rush._

_Deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover_ _I hope this chapter better answers your question from chapter 8, sorry it took so long._

Chapter 16: Hagrid's Return

Harry was getting ready for bed. It wasn't that late, but he was exhausted. Too much school work, he thought, way too much school work. Yugi was already curled up on the bed, watching Harry with bleary eyes and Ron was fumbling around in his trunk for something.

Harry glanced absently out the window into the night and did a double take. A light was shining from the windows in Hagrid's hut. Harry hurried over to Ron and tugged on his friends shirt hem. "Ron, Hagrid's back." He hissed.

Ron spun, "What? Let me see." He dashed over to the window and peered out. "You're right."

Yugi made a grumbling noise and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Harry dove into his trunk while Ron pulled on a sweater and his shoes. Harry pulled a sweater of his own on and fumbled for the Marauders Map and his Invisibility Cloak.

Yugi gave him a look Harry had seen him give Yami, now that the gaze was directed at him he wasn't surprised that Yami flinched when it happened, Yugi's eyes were very penetrating. "You can stay here. As far as I know Yami is in the common room, you would have company." Harry told him.

Yugi sighed, shook his head and got up, finding his hat and scarf and pulling on his shoes. He dressed faster than Ron and Harry and as a result was waiting patiently at the door when they crept down to the common room. They nearly smashed into Hermione as she came up the stairs, Yami stood at the bottom peering up into the darkness at them.

"Hagrid's back." The three of them synchronously whispered at each other. Hermione pressed her finger to her lips and motioned for them to follow her down the stairs.

Harry and Ron crept along to the common room, though now that they were out of the dorms Harry realised they didn't need to be quiet. Yami watched them calmly. "Who is Hagrid?" He asked. Yami didn't bother to whisper, he never did.

Harry was pulling the Cloak over their heads as he replied. "He's our friend. He's been gone for ages, and we want to find out what he was doing."

"And it cannot wait until you are actually permitted out tomorrow?"

Harry decided to ignore the fact that for once the Shade was being the voice of reason. "No."

"How to you intend to get down there unseen?" Yami sounded amused now and he was smirking. Obviously thinking of taking them himself, something Harry never wanted to do ever again.

Harry grinned back at him, "We can be invisible too." He tugged the Cloak closed and looked at Yami through the translucent folds. Yami was looking at them. "I can still see you." He pointed out blandly. Yugi rolled his eyes and pushed the portrait open for them. Yami muttered something to himself and flowed after them his body dissolving slowly, picking Yugi up as he went past.

Their hurried shuffle down to Hagrid's was faster than it normally would have been. Yami led the way, stopping them from running into patrolling teachers and ghosts and showing them new shortcuts.

Harry grinned as they stepped out onto the lawns. Yami probably knew the castle better than anyone else did, even the Marauders. Harry raised his hand and knocked loudly on Hagrid's door. Yami set Yugi on the ground near them and the elf slid carefully under the Cloak to stand between Harry and Ron's legs. The Shade disappeared into the night.

Hagrid opened the door armed with his cross bow and Yugi squeaked and grabbed a fist full of Harry's pants.

"Hagrid it's us." Harry said, though he had to choke out the words. Hagrid's face was bloodied and bruised and he was squinting through one eye. "Thought it migh' be. Come on in." He stepped back and the four of them squeezed through the door before Harry pulled off the cloak. "Hagrid what happened?"

Their huge friend wasn't paying attention though; he had bent down and was looking at Yugi. The tiny elf was hiding behind Harry's leg, his huge eyes wide. "'s alright, little un, I ain't gonna hurt you." Hagrid held out one huge hand and waited. Harry shifted so that Yugi couldn't hide behind him anymore. Yugi wriggled uncomfortably twisting his scarf in his hands, but stepped forwards.

Harry thought this was slightly ironic. Yugi's best friend was one of the most dangerous creatures on earth and yet he was scared of their huge gentle friend. Hagrid examined Yugi carefully and then ruffled his long hair. Apparently this was the right thing to do because Yugi immediately giggled and climbed into Hagrid's hand.

The half-giant picked Yugi up as though he weighed no more than a feather. Hagrid bounced the tiny elf in his hand. Yugi laughed brightly and clapped his hands. "Elves are a strange folk; I met a few o' em. Pretty people, can vanish like they were a tree in a forest. Don't see 'em as much anymore they tend to stay away. Not overly fond o' wizards." Hagrid added thoughtfully.

Yugi smiled at Hagrid and touched one of the lumps on his head, there was a faint sparkle of magic and it faded slightly.

Hermione leapt onto the point, though Harry was more interested in the cause of the lump. "He did that to Harry as well!" She exclaimed.

All three of them turned to her. "What do you mean?" Harry asked her, "He did what to me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "He healed you, after Umbridge hurt your hand." Her voice had gained that know-it-all expression.

Harry blinked at her, feeling a little stupid. "So?"

A sigh this time, "In Arkano's memoirs, which you would know if you had bothered to read them, he said that among elves healers are exceptionally rare. Really one in a million and it seems to run in one particular blood line, though Marnia wouldn't tell him which family it was."

Harry didn't see why this was important, but Hagrid was nodding, "that's true, though I 'ave met one b'fore, real strange he was, even for an elf. Almost overly serene." Hagrid turned his attention back to Yugi, who was tracing the lines on the huge palm that held him. "May help you t' find his family though." The giant mused.

Hagrid settled into a chair and poured them each a cup of tea. Yugi sniffed the cup in front of him and wrinkled his nose. He slid down onto the floor and turning to greet Fang, whose back end was getting close to smacking his own head with the force that his tail was wagging with.

Harry leant forwards and fixed his eyes on Hagrid, he wasn't going to be distracted this time. "What happened to you Hagrid, where have you been?"

The half-giant shifted uneasily and looked around as though expecting someone to jump out from the shadows. Harry followed his gaze, they all had experiences with people appearing from shadows, but Yami was nowhere to be seen.

Hagrid took a large gulp of tea and looked down to see Yugi tugging gently on his coat. The elf was picked up and deposited on Hagrid's knee. Harry bit back a smile, Yugi want to know what happened as well. Ron made an encouraging noise leaning forwards eagerly and Hagrid gave in. "I was trying t' talk t' the giants." Hermione gasped and Harry blinked.

"Why?" Harry asked, sipping his tea and trying not to flinch at the strength.

Hagrid took a long moment to try and pull Yugi down from where the elf was muttering over the cuts and bruises on his face. After a while he gave up and allowed the elf to remain seated on his shoulder.

"I can't tell ya, Order business." He said not looking at them.

"Hagrid, we've been worried about you the least you can do is tell us what you've been doing." Ron demanded.

Hagrid shifted again and threw another glance around the room. "Well alright." He leant forwards and began to explain.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami circled the small stone hut a couple of times. It was nothing special, like most human dwellings it held only human magic and Yami had checked it with his filtered vision this time to confirm it.

Something twitched nearby a tiny blip of familiar magic. Yami abandoned his circling and followed it into the forest nearby. As soon as he entered the dark shadows of the trees he was met with thousands upon thousands of darkings.

Darkings were like miniature Shades, not dangerous to humans as they fed off ambient magic, not emotions. Humans weren't even aware that they existed. The darkings skittered around him, twining with his own shadows.

They hadn't seen a Shade in a long time, not since the humans came here. They were interested in him. They hadn't ever met a Shade as old or as strong as him.

Yami relaxed and allowed them to flow around him. Normally Shades kept a small contingent of darkings with them, however elves didn't particularly like the tiny living shadows and so Yami had sent his away. As far as he knew Bakura had done the same. It was comforting to know that they were there if he ever needed assistance. The anti-Shade spells did nothing to prevent darkings moving.

Yugi was calling him. Apparently Yami should hear something. Yami reluctantly drew himself out of the shadows and headed back to the human hut, one or two of the more curious darkings followed him. He drew close to a crack in a window and listened, it was very undignified listening at a crack to a human conversation.

Still grumbling to himself Yami listened to the conversation within, something about talking to giants. Personally Yami saw no point in doing so; giants were particularly stupid creatures who just tried to squash whatever came near them. Admittedly Yami was a little biased; a giant had tried to crush him under a rock once. It had been a singularly unpleasant experience and Yami had not been particularly kind to the giant once he had been able to get himself free.

Apparently the half-giant who the three humans were talking to had experienced some similar troubles. Yami couldn't help but snicker slightly at that. It was always satisfying to hear of someone else having trouble with something Yami had dealt with easily.

Yugi was seated on the half-giant's shoulder, his fingers entwined into his hair holding himself steady. /I like him/ Yugi sighed making Yami's senses ring. /He smells like home./ There was a soft note of regret in Yugi's mind and Yami prodded him gently to pull his mind away from that thought. Yugi needed to let his old life go that was the way things had to be.

As Yami half listened to the conversation he realised that there was something the half-giant wasn't telling Yami's humans. They hadn't noticed it and Yami could only tell because he could sense an underlying flicker of nervousness from him.

Yami was considering the fact that it was odd that humans were trying to get in contact with the giants when the creatures obviously hated them, when he noticed someone making their way down the steep path from the castle towards the hut. Upon closer examination it was one of the teachers wearing a particularly hideous pink something-or-other. Yami sent an image to Yugi.

The elf's reaction was immediate and through the dirt smudged window Yami saw the three humans and the half-giant dashing around the room. Finally after what appeared to Yami to be several minutes of panic, with the female now approaching the door his three humans pulled that material over their heads, with Yugi huddled at Harry's side.

Yami stared at them, the material was of elfin make spelled for invisibility, but it seemed pathetically thin and to Yami's senses all the more obvious.

The half-giant opened the door and allowed the female to enter. Yami returned to the crack in the window and listened, this time very attentively. The human female informed the half-giant that she would be examining him as she had examined the other teachers. All the while she was looking around the room obviously looking for the three humans who were currently huddled in a corner.

Yugi's eyes found Yami. The Shade knew this even though he wasn't looking at the elf, because his shadows twitched and flickered uncomfortably. Yami resisted, it would be interesting to see the three humans get caught by this female. The sensation from Yugi's gaze got stronger.

Yami gave in, if the humans were caught then Yugi would be to and he wouldn't let this human hurt his elf. Yami called to the shadows in the room, they were normal shadows just spots where the light was blocked out rather than the living shadows of a Shade or darking.

It was very difficult to get this type of shadow to do what he wanted, they were flat and dead, but he was stubborn and powerful and finally with a wave-like pulse of magic Yami managed to get them to move as he needed.

He made them take the vague shadowy forms of a group of humans walking past the window. He had to walk them back and forth across the window panes a couple of times before the female noticed them, but as soon as she did she leapt for the door.

Yami slid to the corner of the building and out of her line of sight. He could hear her hunting around. The half-giant had joined her and was watching with confusion.

She took off towards the castle still hunting in the shadows her wand raised and illuminated. Yami gave a soft rumble of laughter and followed the three humans who were now making their way quickly back to the castle.

None of them said anything as Yami picked up Yugi from outside the cloak. Apparently they didn't realise what he had done. Well Yami wasn't about to tell them. He didn't need the thanks of some humans; it would just make him feel wobbly and irritable. Better to leave it as a coincidence.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry let out a sigh of relief as they stepped back into the common room. That person walking by the window had been a stroke of luck, he was sure that Umbridge would have found them if they hadn't.

Harry muttered goodnight to Hermione and he and Ron made their way up to the dorm. He hadn't seen Yami since the Shade had picked up Yugi on their way back from Hagrid's. The little elf had been waiting in the common room when they got back. Harry got the feeling that Yami was trying to stay out of their sight, though why Harry didn't know.

The strange creature was very temperamental and Harry was glad he didn't have to deal with him very often, usually he asked Yugi and Yugi put it to Yami.

Everyone within the DA was still very wary of their teacher and several people had asked what Harry knew about him. Harry still played dumb, if it hadn't been for Hermione and Ron's insistence that no one know about what Yami really was, Harry would have told everyone. But he could see the benefit of secrecy. Harry had no wish for Yugi to leave if Yami was cast out of the castle.

Harry had no illusions that if it came to it, Yugi's allegiance would lie with the living shadow over Harry.

Yugi crawled into bed, yawning widely. He pushed his shoes over the edge of the bed and tossed his scarf and hat on top of them. Harry climbed in after him and his eyes drooped closed. Harry was glad that Hagrid was back, but he was worried about what Umbridge was going to do. He was going to fight her with everything he had, and when it came down to it he had an elf and a Shade on his side. Harry would win in an all out fight; he would make sure of it.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

It was time for Ron to have another lesson. The human had been getting better at mastering his fears in the last few weeks. He was missing fewer balls and making fewer mistakes. Yami led the human down the corridors towards the field, Ron yawning in his wake.

Yami had watched Ron practicing with the other humans and he could see that the others were impressed with his improvements. True to his word Ron had said nothing about their practice sessions, though Yami thought that was more to do with the fact that Ron was more scared of Yami than of lying to his team mates.

Once he was dressed Ron mounted his broom muffling another yawn and Yami rose into the air, the broom following him. Yami flowed around lazily, activating the fear inducing spells around the posts. Sweat broke out on Ron's face, he may be better at combating the fear, but that didn't mean he didn't feel it.

Yami revelled in the spine tingling terror and began to flick shadows towards the goals. They played for what seemed like an age, Yami had to be careful to limit his speed. He could only go as fast as the human brooms could move, otherwise there was no point in the game. The fun came from the challenge. Yami made sure however that he still got a few of the shadows through the goals. After all it was his game, and he wasn't going to lose, no matter how good the human was getting.

Finally after Ron had caught twelve shadows in a row, one of them in a truly spectacular save that involved flying upside-down hanging by one leg, Yami stopped and dropped back down to the ground, stopping the spells. Ron followed him.

"I am getting better." The human boasted, Yami hissed softly.

"Yes, better enough that we will not longer do these lessons. If you play badly at the next game, I will attach fear spells to your clothing and make you scream yourself to death." Yami snapped. He hated boasters, and as enriching as the energies were he didn't want to spend more time interacting with the humans than he had to. He had done what Yugi asked, that was enough.

"But..." Ron said, his face falling.

Yami snapped his shadows around like a whip. "But nothing." He growled. Yami knew that allowing his voice to be heard when he was in shadow form was unnerving to the humans; they didn't like voices that came from nowhere. "This was the last." He left. The human could find his own way back to the sleeping areas. Yami himself made his way back to the forest, to spend the night in the cool shadows with the darkings.

* * *

_Wow Hagrid's accent is hard to write, I never realised it before now._


	17. Earth Magic

_Ning Jun, this one's for you._

Chapter 17: Earth Magic

Harry, Ron and Hermione were as always the first to arrive in the Room of Requirement. It gave them a chance to get ready, or at least for Yami to get ready. The three humans settled onto cushions to wait for everyone else while Yami drew his shadows together and applied the heavy layers of magic that prevented him from wisping away in moments of inattention.

Thankfully these moments were occurring less frequently now. Yugi curled up on a cushion. The little elf didn't enjoy these sessions; there were too many people for his liking.

Hermione was looking at Yami thoughtfully as he tossed a ball of shadows between his hands. Yami tried not to flinch. She was going to ask him another question. He tried not to meet her eyes; it didn't make a difference she asked anyway.

"How are Shades born?"

Yami blinked at her. Where had that come from? He thought about it, it was probably the hardest question she had ever asked and that was saying something, because she had come up with some absurd questions.

"We aren't really born. We're all male, so we don't reproduce like most races do. We simply come into being from the shadows. All that seems to be required is a lot of magic, human or otherwise and fear, lots and lots of fear."

Yami paused. "I haven't really thought about it before. Shades know everything they need to know on how to survive right from the beginning; what emotions they need, how to use their magic. As we age we become much more skilled at using magic and at manipulating humans. It normally takes a young Shade several years to take human form and years after that to use their magic while they are in that form. As far as I know no human has ever witnessed the birth of a Shade. I know that there were none around when I came into being. All I remember is not being and then being and having all this knowledge with the scent of magic and terror in the air." Yami sighed softly, the remembrance of that first sense of real fear was pleasant.

"When was that?" Hermione asked.

Yami frowned and considered the question. It was hard to measure time. Shades tended to count events rather than years. "I don't know, the first major thing of importance I remember was the building of the large stone pyramids in the land humans called Egypt."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "That makes you over five thousand years old."

Yami couldn't help but smirk at that. "My how time flies when you are having fun." He remembered hearing a human say that once.

He was saved from further questioning by the arrival of the other children.

In the last four lessons of pure meditation the humans had progressed slowly. They could now all focus their minds to a point where Yami thought that they may be able to handle the earth magic.

So in this lesson they would be beginning to use the magic, or at least to call it up. Technically it should be easier here than anywhere else. The earth magic lay in thick veins of power. All they had to do was to reach out and tap into those veins, rather than calling to the veil of magic that lay over everything else and pulling it into something that could be used.

Of course Yami had no illusions about the humans skill levels, he doubted many of them would be able to do more than contact the magic and be aware of its existence. Still he had promised Yugi he would try.

The humans began to filter into the room. They all greeted Harry, Ron and Hermione with smiles and Yami himself with wary nods. Though four lessons with him meant that they were beginning to trust him, their natural instincts picked up on his true self and told them to be wary, even if they didn't know why.

Yami smirked. Humans tended to ignore their instincts, in a way it was good because it allowed him to exist closer to them without the humans realising why they were unhappy all the time.

They were becoming used to him though and this meant that they were asking more questions, some of them rather stupid ones. One of the humans had wondered aloud to one of his friends, why Yami was so grouchy and that surely the spirit of Hogwarts should be more understanding. Yami had replied, rather acidly, that no one could spend several hundred years around children and not be grouchy.

The boy had remained silent for the rest of the lesson.

Yami looked around and figured that everyone was here. He still struggled with their names sometimes, but he was getting better much to his own disgust.

"You will attempt to draw up the earth magic today. Start by emptying your minds as though you were meditating. The earth magic is already present in this room, so you will not have to reach very far to grab it. Wizard wand magic desensitises you to the feel and the sound of magic, so you will feel very strange when you first manage to use earth magic. It is completely different to your magic; remember it is wild and powerful so you must put all your will power behind what you want the magic to do. It will not want to so you must make it. For the moment all I want you to do it take the magic and hold it, make a ball of magic in front of you."

This was the simplest trick that you could do with earth magic, though really it couldn't get much more complex either. Using earth magic was very much like using a sledge hammer to open a nut, though sometimes it could be like using a mountain range to open a nut.

Yami watched as the children closed their eyes and tried to feel for the earth magic. Yami rolled his eyes, they were all trying to think about what they were doing while keeping their minds blank. Typical mistake; amusing though.

A thin strand of magic detached itself from one of the thick veins around the room and wrapped itself around the human called Neville, a second reached out for Luna. They were both frowning faintly in concentration, trying to turn that whirling strand into a ball, still they were further on than the other humans who were just succeeding in giving themselves headaches.

Yami glanced at Harry. The boy was sweating profusely and a strand of magic was just reaching out towards him, but it seemed to be hovering indecisively.

Yami smirked. Unlike the other two Harry had not been born with the ability to control the earth magic, he only had the gift because of his bond to Yugi. As such he would always have to work very hard to get the magic to work, when it did work though the results would be spectacular and devastating.

Yugi was watching his parent carefully and after a moment he got to his feet and trotted over to Harry. The tiny elf hardly came to Harry's knee, but he leant against him and the strand of magic wobbled its way over and wrapped around Harry. Yami turned his attention back to the others, some of whom were managing to drag strands of magic out. Harry's ability to use earth magic came from Yugi; let Yugi teach him, Yami wasn't going to complain. Harry's inane bravery made Yami's nose itch.

Neville and Luna had managed to pull the magic into balls which hovered in front of them. Here, Yami decided, was a good chance to tell them rule number two. "Everyone except Luna and Neville open your eyes, you two keep concentrating." The humans stopped wrestling with the magic and looked at him. Harry was shaking with the effort he had been putting into the magic.

Yami paused. There was no way for him to do this without it looking like Shade magic so he would just have to hope that no one recognised it. Yami wove one of his vision filters, his shadows began to move, detaching from the illusion that lay over his shadows and began to flicker faintly in the bright room as they formed the spell. Yami held it out rather than putting it on his own eyes.

Yami began to move around the room, he touched each of the children on the forehead attaching a filter which allowed them to see the earth magic. Yami grumbled a little as he did it. Of all the students it was only some of the younger ones, like Ron's sister who he didn't have to reach up to spell. In a couple of cases he had to stand on his tip toes and reach as high as he could.

Yami had tired himself out more than once trying to make himself taller, but until Yugi grew up Yami was stuck being short. The mouthy human male smirked as Yami reached up to spell him. Yami growled at him, and poked him harder than he really needed to. It ensured that the spell stung, it was vengeful and a little petty, but he was like that sometimes.

Yami stepped out in front of them. All the humans were looking around curiously, blinking rapidly through the sudden flashes that were moving through their line of vision. "All of you look at these two." Yami motioned to Neville and Luna. "What do you see?"

"They've got something in front of them." Someone called out.

Yami nodded. "That is earth magic. The spell I used will allow you to see it for a short time, it will wear off very quickly." Yami had made sure of that otherwise his Shade spell would sap all the life out of the students and that would be a little hard to explain.

"One of the most important things to remember about the use of earth magic is just how powerful it is. You cannot do small things with it. Wizards and witches use their magic for small things, changing a bird into a cup, lifting a person into the air. If you try and do these things with earth magic you will turn the bird into a dragon and obliterate the person you are trying to levitate.  
Earth magic is good for big things; moving an entire forest, destroying an army. The only way to modulate the size of the magic is to modulate the amount of power you draw. Even then do not attempt to use only a little magic at a time. I suggest that you utilise this magic for things like shields. Earth magic will absorb any wand spelt that is thrown at it."

Yami turned on his heel and paced back a bit. "Luna, Neville, take the ball of magic you have made and stretch it around you." He commanded.

For a moment nothing happened, then slowly almost painfully the magic began to stretch. The ball became a disc which began to get thinner as it stretched. Luna's disc began to grow, it moved around her without effort forming a perfect spherical orb. She opened her large pale eyes and smiled at them all.

Yami smirked, her elfin blood helped there. Neville however was having a bit more trouble. His shield was a glowing disc in front of him, but now it was wobbling dangerously. Yami prodded Yugi to make sure the elf was ready to catch the magic should anything go wrong. Yugi immediately began to sing softly, enhancing his spell with the clear music of his voice.

Neville shuddered and his orb collapsed in on itself. There were a couple of nervous giggles and one or two whispers. Neville opened his eyes and that's when everything went wrong. Neville had not let go of the magic yet. His attention turned from the earth magic and it exploded.

Yami ducked all dignity out the window as the backlash from the spell slammed outwards. Yugi's voice hit a single higher note and a glowing shield of shimmering purple elfin magic appeared. It buckled under the raw power of the other elemental magic. Yami looked up. All the humans had been knocked to the ground except Luna who still maintained her shield. Yami had to admit he was impressed by that.

Yami got to his feet warily as Yugi began to weave the power back into the rooms spells. /Thank you/ he thought to his little bond-mate. Yugi smiled at Yami, his fingers twitching as he worked.

The humans were getting up as well. Yami turned to Neville who was shaking with fright. Yami struggled with his instinct to frighten him more; real fear was what he wanted. As a result when he spoke his voice was very stilted and stiff. "Make sure when you let go that you do it slowly and that you do not stop concentrating until you have completely let go of the magic." Neville nodded, embarrassed.

Yami muttered something rude about humans and their emotions under his breath. "All of you will try again. Do not try to do anything with the magic, just gather it around you." Yami grumbled. The humans leapt to do as he said.

A couple more of the children managed to get the magic to come to them. Once Yami could see that they couldn't do anymore tonight he turned them over to Harry, who was pale and shaky. Harry had managed to pull the magic into a glowing orb, but only with Yugi's help.

Yami took a seat on a cushioned chair and watched as they paired off and began to stun each other. This was a fun spell, especially the annoyance they felt when they missed and got stunned by their partner instead.

Yami watched Ron's brothers. They were partnered with other people, but occasionally they would throw a spell at someone else or each other. Yami smirked they were seriously annoying everyone else in the room. Yami played with the emotion, it was one of those that he could draw energy from if he needed to.

Their work with the earth magic had lasted longer than normal so Harry broke of their practice early. Yami rose from his sprawling seat to join Yugi and their three humans, but he was intercepted by the twins. "We've got a proposition for you." One said. Yami had never bothered to learn the difference between them. They looked and felt the same to him.

"Interested?" The other added, raising an eye brow in a look that Yami had seen on another Shades face once just before he had unleashed a wave of fear that had resulted in mass panic attack among humans.

"I may be." He replied. Mentally he told Yugi, /Go back to the sleeping area, I will return later./ Yugi sensed what Yami was up to and disapproved. However he whispered in Harry's ear and the three humans left the room, giving Yami and his two companion's suspicious looks.

Once the room had emptied Yami turned back to the two red heads. "Now let us get down to business, what did you have in mind?"

* * *

_I'm sorry, but the cliff hanger had to be there. I will update as soon as possible_


	18. The Redecoration

_This is just a fun filler chapter, there is really nothing of deep and meaningful importance, but it is entertaining._

Chapter 18: The Redecoration

Yami took his seat again and watched the two humans carefully. They had identical smirks on their faces and they exchanged a glance before one of them spoke. "So Harry claims you're the spirit of Hogwarts."

Yami took that as a question. 'I am.' He wasn't one to blanch at a lie, especially one so insignificant.

"So I guess you know everything there is to know about the castle." The other said, absently examining his hands. Trying to appear uncaring, Yami smothered a smirk. Their emotions betrayed them, they were excited about this.

Yami shrugged. He could pass this off after all he had been exploring the castle for the last few months. "You could say that." Yami didn't look away from them there were no emotions that he could use none the less he found himself intrigued.

"And you'd know the passwords to all the rooms."

That was a little harder; he didn't know the words that could be used to open the door mostly because he had no use for them. However he could probably twist the magic used in the doors and open them forcefully. This proposition was taking a long time, but he had a feeling that it was going to be worth his while. "Yes, I can get into any room in the castle, with little effort."

"Could you get us into the Slytherin common room?" Both the humans were looking at Yami eagerly now.

Yami frowned faintly, which were the Slytherins? He poked through his memories and finally came up with the marked humans group, those who wore green and silver. The ones that often made Yugi unhappy. "Yes." Yami shrugged again.

"Excellent." They cheered.

"When, why and can I help?" Yami added after a moment's thought. This had great potential, but these humans were amateurs compared to him.

The two exchanged glances. "No reason, really I didn't think you were supposed to be biased."

Yami lifted an eyebrow. "Bias has nothing to do with it. You will tell me." He wasn't going to ask again and his tone let them know that.

They exchanged another glance and shrugged. "We have a little prank to play on them. Nothing serious, but it's going to make the Slytherins, and Snape absolutely furious." They grinned at him.

Yami considered the point. He would determine exactly how he could turn this to his advantage as he watched them. He was also quiet happy with making anyone angry, it would be a nice break from the very average stress emotions he usually seemed to get here."'Very well." Yami said, striding towards the door. "Come with me." He commanded.

The twins both blinked at him in surprise. "Now?"

Yami walked out of the door without looking back or waiting for them. He made his way along the corridor in the direction of the underground common room. After a few moments footsteps followed him and the twins caught up. They were each carrying a bag over their shoulders though where they had gotten them was a mystery.

Yami picked up his pace. He lead them a weaving way through the castle. It was a route that he knew was never watched by humans and the protective spells were few and far between.

It was well into the night by the time they reach the dank corridor where the silver and green children lived.

Yami padded over to the statue that guarded the doorway. He had not come back here since he had spent the night tormenting the marked human, this time getting in would have to be a bit more obvious. He would need to open the door rather than slip through the cracks in the spells. Yami leant against the walls and fed strands of his shadows into the magic weavings over the walls.

The mer-magic, dragon magic and interestingly goblin-magic was delicately woven to form a sort of magical keyhole. It waited for a word which when spoken would activate a rippling surge of rearrangement which opened the door. That was easily solved. Yami used a Shade spell, one that was similar to the one used to create a human form to mirror the 'keyhole' and open the door.

There was a soft click and the statue moved aside. Yami moved through first. The room was dark, lit only by a soft green light which seemed to come from the walls and ceiling. The twins crept in behind him. They looked around, grinned at each other and set down their bags.

Yami glanced around with interest. The last time he had been here he had paid little attention to the décor now he noticed that this place was very different to Yugi's common room.

The walls were damp stone and there were no windows, all the furniture was heavy and made of a very dark wood and everything was green and silver, decorated with snakes.

The only thing that was similar was the presence of those many interwoven magic's within the walls. Though that seemed to be a common theme around the whole castle. Yami wondered if the humans had built this place with the help of other races or if they had simply taken over the castle.

The twins had their wands out and were attaching banners around the room with their wands; the material was red and gold. Yami tilted his head and looked at the things they were trying to cover up. He smirked and reached out.

Yami used the same trick he had used to make the adult females room explode; he lifted the magic from the walls and furniture and then laid down his own Shade spells before replacing the human magic.

This time the room would not explode, it was far more subtle than that. Anyone who was a Slytherin would see the room in gold and red, everyone else would see it as the normal green and silver.

Yami chuckled and made his way upstairs. The twins gave him an odd look, but went on with their own work. When the humans removed the twin's decorations, they would still have to contend with Yami's much more difficult spells. When Yami reached the sleeping rooms he glanced around, he would have to be careful working in here, this time he couldn't just dissolve into shadows and hide.

The heavy spells which prevented him from disappearing during the lessons were still in place, he would just have to be very quiet. Yami lifted the magic up, it was much harder when he was in human form. He worked his spell carefully, again the same as down stairs, but as he was about to return the original magic a thought occurred to him.

Yami remembered the chant that the Gryffindor's had used during the Quidditch match. He smiled, and brought the memory to the front. Yami then laid down a second layer of spells and to ensure this one didn't fade he tied it into the earth magic power source for this room. He was perhaps excessively meticulous about returning the original spells to their positions.

However as there was now much more Shade magic in a room where there had originally been very little he had to be careful. While Yami could use other species magic, if the magic was already present, no other creature would or could use Shade magic. It was just too opposite and powerful to be controlled by external sources. So if someone saw Shade magic, they would know a Shade had been there.

Yami crept down stairs again, the twins were just finishing. Yami raised an eyebrow, he was impressed The room had not a single speck of silver or green. It was almost painfully red and gold, there were lions everywhere, and the two sacks that the boys had brought with them were looking very empty. "Ready?" They asked quietly.

Yami shrugged nonchalantly and touched the wall that led out of the room. The statue moved aside again and Yami stepped out into the corridor. The twins followed him, both grinning insanely. "Nice working with you." They both shook hands with him and turned disappearing down the corridor.

Yami finally allowed himself to dissolve back into his natural form. He found a nice dark corner and settled down to wait. He would enjoy those first screams of fury in the morning.


	19. The Dream

_My internet is on the fritz so sorry about any lack of replies to reviews. I can only use it for fifteen minutes a day before seven O'clock in the morning._

Chapter 19: The Dream

Harry woke the next morning feeling as though he had been put through a spin drier. His head ached his stomach flipped back and forth and even with his glasses on his vision was blurry.

Yugi was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him with a knowing look in his eyes. Harry would have asked Yugi what was wrong with him if Dean, Seamus and Neville hadn't been getting up at the same time. Instead Harry crawled out of bed and began to gingerly pull on his clothes, he tried to keep his head as still as possible. He was a little worried that if he shook it too hard it would just roll off his neck.

Harry felt a stab of jealousy as the others chatted happily; they didn't seem to be affect by working with the earth magic like he did. When Harry had managed to finish doing his shoelaces up, something that today seemed like the hardest thing in the world, he scooped up Yugi and headed for the door. Ron started to follow, but Harry shook his head wincing as an extra strong throb stabbed through his temples.

Harry made his way down a corridor and found an empty class room. It was full of cobwebs which suggested that it hadn't been used in years. He set Yugi on one of the decrepit desks and sat down warily on one of the stronger looking chairs."'Why do I feel this bad?" Harry asked, his voice echoed painfully in his head.

Yugi smiled gently at him as he settled down cross legged on the tabletop. "You are not used to using magic as powerful as the earth magic, it has tired you out."

"How come the others aren't this tired out?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice low to prevent it pounding in his temples.

Yugi leant forwards and touched Harry's cheek with one tiny hand a wonderfully cool sensation trickled from his fingers into Harry's head and the throbbing dimmed a little. Damn Harry loved healers. "The others do not and cannot use as much magic as you can so the effects are not as strong on them. Neville and Luna have an inborn ability to use the earth magic and so they can take in more magic without the ill effects. You can use the magic to such a high degree because of me. It will take you a little longer to adjust to using the magic."

Harry considered that for a minute. "Okay." Harry was almost sure that that had made sense, but he didn't want to think about it too hard just in case his head started hurting again. He picked Yugi up again and carried him out of the room.

As they made their way down the corridor towards the Great Hall for breakfast Harry suddenly felt as though his legs weighed a ton. For a moment he wondered if he was going to collapse when out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a ripple of shadows. He grinned. "Hey Yami." The Shade whirled around him and Harry could almost hear the soft rumbling sound that was their strange guardian's laughter.

Harry blinked in surprise. Something had made Yami very happy. Yugi was scowling faintly. Yami headed down the corridor his shadows almost dancing, rolling off walls and ceiling before vanishing around the corner.

Yugi looked up at him and Harry met the elf's suspicious amethyst eyes with his own confused green gaze. "Should we head down to the Great Hall?"

Yugi nodded. "Anything that can make Yami that happy will be big news." The elf said.

It didn't take long for them to work out just what had made their Shade so ecstatic. As soon as they stepped into the Great Hall it became apparent. Snape and Umbridge were standing in front of the Gryffindor table with McGonagall. There were also several Slytherins, Malfoy included there with them. All of them looked absolutely livid except McGonagall, who looked like she was trying hard not to smile. Harry made his way over to the table with the other late comers and sat down next to Hermione. Yugi wriggled on his lap leaning forwards so that he could see better.

Normally when Snape got angry he got quiet, apparently whatever this was about warranted Snape yelling, because his first sentence nearly burst Harry's eardrums and set his head to pounding again. "Whoever it was will own up immediately or I will put the whole of Gryffindor in detention." Harry didn't think that he had ever seen Snape this angry before.

Harry leant over and whispered in Hermione's ear. "What's happening?"

She barely looked at him, she looked like she was trying not to smile as well and Harry could see similar looks on many of the other Gryffindor's faces. "Apparently someone redecorated the Slytherin common rooms and dorms in Gryffindor colours using Permanent Sticking Charms, and somehow they managed to make the walls cheer for Gryffindor every time a Slytherin goes into the room."

Remembering last night leaving the Weasley twins and Yami alone in the Room of Requirement, gave Harry a very strong suspicion of just who was responsible. Supported by the overly innocent looks on their faces now, Harry suspected that he wasn't the only one to guess who was responsible. Fortunately he was also willing to take a detention in order to not turn the twins in, hell it was an excellent idea and Gryffindor's were supposed to be brave.

"No one." Snape snapped while Umbridge was gave them a broad and nasty smile. "Fine, a week's worth of detention for all of you."

Then McGonagall stepped in. "I don't think so Serverus, you cannot punish my House with no evidence."

Snape had a slight flush in his cheeks. "What more proof do I need?" He snarled.

McGonagall sniffed and lifted her chin."'We will take this to Dumbledore." Her tone left no room for argument. Snape growled and spun on his heel, black robes billowing behind him. Umbridge and McGonagall followed him out of the room.

As soon as they were all out of range every single Gryffindor turned to look at Fred and George. "What?" Fred asked, trying unsuccessfully to look innocent.

"How did you do it?" Lavender asked.

"Who said it was us?" George replied innocently, Fred was examining his fingernails.

"Well who else would turn the Slytherin common room in a Gryffindor support room?" Dean scoffed.

The twins exchanged a glance and a grin. "Maybe Hogwarts doesn't like the Slytherin's as much as it likes the Gryffindor's." They both got up and walked out of the room. Harry's resisted the urge to cheer and applaud. Members of the DA got the implication behind that statement, everyone else just looked confused.

Hermione gave Harry a look and got up as well, Ron stuffed the last bit of breakfast down his throat and followed suit.

As soon as they were out of hearing of anyone Hermione turned to Harry. "We need to have a word with Yami, he can't go letting Fred and George into whatever room they want to, who knows what they could do." Apparently Hermione was one of the few people who didn't think the twins latest work was in truth a work of art, though her smile to begin with seemed to suggest she at least thought it was funny. Besides if Yami was involved there was bound to be some other hidden surprise waiting for the Slytherins.

To all their surprise it was Yugi who answered. "Let me talk to him. He's a little nutty at the moment and he doesn't like criticism. He might hurt you, he can't hurt me."

Harry looked down at him. "Are you sure?" He asked, really it was a stupid question.

"Yes, put me down Harry." Harry did so. When Yugi was in his imperious mood, it was easier to just do what he told you to do. The little elf stood stock still for a moment, his forehead wrinkled with thought. Then his gave a sharp decisive nod and trotted off down the hall. He called back over his shoulder. "I'll come and find you later." And he was gone. The three humans stood still for a few moments, before they realised that they needed to get to their first class.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami rolled around the corridors of Hogwarts, the screams of fury from the Slytherins that morning had been delicious. He whirled down the corridors not even bothering to avoid the humans moving through the school. It didn't bother him when they passed through his shadow form in fact he barely noticed them at all, but each one that he moved around looked around for the person who was spelling them.

It had been years since he had felt that kind of raw fury, even the anger from the Quidditch match was nothing compared to this. Anger made him want to play and for a Shade this meant tormenting humans. With subtle flicks of magic Yami left a wake of tears and arguments behind him.

His fun was short lived though when a whisper of soft, if irritated, music pushed its way into his awareness. Yugi was standing in a corner scowling at him. Yami flowed over to his tiny elfin bond-mate and wrapped around him, trying to placate him. It worked, the frown that creased Yugi's brow faded and his eyes started to smile. Yami purred low and soft, a sound he knew made Yugi laugh. The tiny elf moved away from his corner, his Shade twined around his slim form. /You let the Weasley twins into the Slytherin common room./ It wasn't a question.

/They asked if I could, so I did./ Yami replied, allowing images of working with them last night to trickle down the bond so Yugi could see.

/You got Harry in trouble/. The elf was not happy about that. However at the moment Yami couldn't have cared less. /It is boring here, these puny emotions that your humans feel are not enough to keep my energy levels at a point where I will be aptly able to combat an attacker./

Yugi's gaze didn't shift. /There will be no need for you to fight, we are safe here./ As they had been talking, they had been moving through the corridor and now they came to one that was full of children. These children were not careful, they thundered past Yugi knocking him. Yami swelled up, or would have if Yugi hadn't grabbed him and held him firm. It still amazed Yami that elves could hold on something as insubstantial as his shadow form.

With Yugi's tiny hand gripping Yam's dark heart the elf made his way through the crowd, he was now smiling up at the faces that towered above him. People began to notice him and they stepped aside, the more people who saw him the more moved aside. When the crowd had passed Yugi turned his head gently in Yami's direction. /See violence doesn't solve everything/. He seemed very satisfied with his answer.

Yami pulled himself free and began to move at Yugi's side, it was time that the little elf learnt a lesson of his own. /Telling a Shade that the emotions we live on are not natural and that violence is useless is like telling an elf that a tree has no heart, no life of its own. We cannot exist without those emotions, remember we are born of fear and magic. Perhaps it is time that you learnt that as much as you wish to you cannot always get your own way./

Yami swirled irritably and took a different turn leaving Yugi standing at a junction staring after him. Yami twitched it had hurt telling Yugi that and the elf's soft sadness stung. Yami resisted returning, Yugi had to learn and Yami was the only one who could teach him. Everything must be allowed to follow its own course, to fulfil its purpose.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yugi didn't return until half way through their lunch break. They had been discussing going to the Burrow for Christmas when the little elf climbed onto Harry's lap and sighed. Harry glanced down at him. "Didn't it go so well?"

Yugi just sighed again and examined the food on the table. Nothing seemed to take his fancy so he just stared off into the distance, frowning faintly. Harry looked at Hermione, who shrugged, they would have to ask him later. There were too many people around so Yugi wouldn't talk, not that Harry wanted to mention Yami with this many people around.

They were unfortunately surrounded by people for the rest of the day. Yugi dozed his way through their lessons and only woke up when they were back in the common room after dinner. They had seen no more of Yami that day, but they had seen the results of his happiness. People were arguing in the corridors while others were sobbing in corners about nothing.

Harry found it hard to concentrate on his work. Ron was grumbling angrily to himself, while Hermione would keep sniffing softly as she knitted more elf hats. Yami was beginning to affect them as well. Harry himself felt fine, but Yugi's magic worked better on him. As they headed down to the Room of Requirement for the last lesson before the holidays Harry wondered if the Shade would even turn up.

Yugi seemed to catch his thought and shook his head. Right so no earth magic lesson tonight. Harry was a little relieved, he still hadn't totally recovered from last night's lesson. Harry revised his plans in his head. He checked the Marauders Map again and noted that Filtch and Mrs. Norris were nowhere near them before rounding the corner and going in. Hermione began to read again and Ron helped Harry to set up the cushions and dummies for practicing.

People began to filter in each one of them looked around curiously for Yami. As soon as everyone was there Harry coughed to get everyone's attention. "Alright we're going to go over everything we've learnt to make sure you are really get it. Then after Christmas we can start some hard stuff, like the Patronus charm." This remark was accompanied by a great deal of excited murmuring. Harry grinned and pulled out his wand. "Alright, let's get to it."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami made his way through the corridors. Yugi had been a little disappointed that Yami was not going to teach tonight. Yami had decided to give in and turn up, the elf had lost one fight today he would get unhappy if he lost another.

It only took Yami a few minutes to find his way to the practice room, but by the time he was there the lessons had already begun.

Yami slid under the door, a process that involved a great deal of wriggling and mental swearing. Once he had managed to get into the room unnoticed by anyone except Yugi, who sat watching him with a look that told Yami if they had been alone the elf would have been laughing uproariously, Yami slid into a corner.

From there he could watch and consider. Though he didn't really have a good grasp of human magic he could tell that the children were only going over the spells that they had already learnt.

/Do you want me to interrupt?/ Yami thought to Yugi.

/No let them be, something tells me that Harry will need his strength soon./ The elf clicked his tongue and offered up the colouring spells for Yami's eyes.

Sighing the Shade made sure that no one was looking before drawing together his shadows and allowing Yugi to apply the spells. Several people started so badly that they fell over as Yami appeared in the corner. Though thankfully none of them screamed 'Shade' and bolted for the door.

Yami looked at the two humans getting back to their feet both giggling nervously. Yami just wandered around the room rather aimlessly. Luna gave him a dreamy smile as he passed her and as he reached the mouthy human male the child spoke out. "So we are continuing with Harry's lessons after the holidays, what about the earth magic?"

Yami shrugged. "We will continue, few of you are even close to proficient. Just don't practice over the holidays, without someone to catch the backlash you may destroy your homes before you actually do any good with the magic."

A couple of people looked nervous, but Yami continued. "If you practice and something goes wrong you will have to explain how you learnt to use this magic in the first place and that will reveal Harry's lessons as well." Everyone nodded and gave their neighbours threatening looks as though to warn them that they would be watching. Yami wasn't worried about revealing these lessons to anyone, but he was a little concerned about being found out. So he took a seat near Yugi to wait out the lesson.

The lesson was boring and now that he was aware of the dark patch within the spells of this room his mind sought it out automatically to ensure that it was still there. If it moved Yami was taking Yugi and getting as far from this place as he conceivably could.

He had now worked out where he had sensed the darkness before. It was the same darkness that had tainted the soul of Voldemort. It had been so long ago that Yami had encountered the non-human that he had almost forgotten.

Yami had never been told or been able to work out what had caused the tainting on Voldemort. So he was really no further along to finding out what it was and how to destroy it, but at least it was a start.

The humans were packing up now, but one of the females was hovered unnecessarily, nervousness literally dripping off of her. Yugi made his way towards the door, giving Harry an encouraging look as he did. The human glanced at Yami as well as the Shade followed his elf out, Yami rolled his eyes at the confused human.

Good grief, even Yami knew what was going on. Harry really needed to have his nose ground into something before he picked up on things. "Good luck." Yami said, giving Cho a smug smile letting her know that he knew exactly what she was planning. The two humans were looking confused as he left the room.

* * *

Yami watched with amusement as Harry, Ron and Hermione discussed Harry and Cho kissing after they had all left. Yugi was sitting on the carpet. Though the elf knew what had happened he was still too young to really understand the implication of it. The three humans talked long into the night, and all through the talk Yami noticed that Harry was a little distracted, his hand kept on twitching upwards.

Yami mentally poked Yugi to see what was wrong. Yugi was frowning and watching Harry, he had noticed as well and was worried. He didn't know what was wrong.

When the three humans went upstairs to sleep Yami remained in the common room. Just as Yugi had felt that Harry would need his strength soon, Yami sensed that he needed to stay close to his elfin bond-mate tonight, that he would be needed.

It wasn't long until the reason behind this sense was revealed. Yami had been curled up in his corner when wave upon wave of killing pleasure all mixed together with terror, real blinding soul shaking terror, hit him like a sledgehammer.

Yami unfolded and made his way upstairs. The four other humans in Harry's sleeping room were gathered around his bed, while Harry himself thrashed on the bed, they were trying to wake him. Yami was confused, even a nightmare couldn't cause that distinctive mix of fear and pleasure that Yami could sense. Yami edged closer and the tainting on Harry, that same tainting from the Room flared up as though threatening to swallow the Shade.

Yugi gave an anguished shrilling, his own spells straining with the effort to both wake Harry and prevent Yami's presence from making him worse. Yugi's shrilling notes were begging him to leave. Yami didn't want to. He could sense in Yugi's mind that the elf wanted Yami to stay close, he wanted Yami's comforting darkness to hide in, but he was worried about Harry.

Yami made a decision, he left. Yami made his way as far and as fast away from Harry as he could, through the forest and back to that village. Hopefully Yugi would be able to take care of this, because Yami couldn't do anything, not without hurting Harry.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry was still shaking, his mouth tasted vile, as McGonagall led him and Ron towards Dumbledore's office. Yugi was curled up in his arms, crying softly. Harry couldn't comfort him, he felt too wobbly himself.

Yami was nowhere to be seen, something that Harry was immensely grateful for. He could only suppose that Yugi had sent him away. The dream was still vivid in his mind, Mr. Weasley was hurt, badly hurt, and he, Harry had been the one who had attacked him. Harry hugged Yugi to him as they ascended the stair case to the Headmaster's office.

The room hadn't changed since Harry had been there last, portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses, spindly tables with strange silver instruments on them and the flame coloured phoenix Fawkes singing softly. Yugi had gone still at Fawke's song and the elf began to sing in return, his clear sweet voice mingled with the phoenix's music and Harry felt warmth fill him, helping to banish the hovering fear remaining from the dream. Harry looked up at Dumbledore. The headmaster's long silver beard seemed a little messed and he was wearing a plum coloured dressing gown. McGonagall nudged Harry and Ron forwards. "Headmaster, Potter has had a dream."

"It wasn't a dream it happened, Mr Weasley was attacked by a snake, a big one, he's bleeding a lot. You have to send someone to get him." Harry interrupted, babbling slightly. Dumbledore to Harry's surprise looked at Yugi. The elf however was totally entranced by Fawkes, who preened under his awe-filled gaze.

"Professor." Harry said urgently.

Dumbledore nodded, without looked at Harry. "Very well." He turned to the portraits of the other Headmasters and began issuing orders, sending someone to get Mr. Weasley, another to warn Sirius that they would be coming to Grimmauld Place. Harry began to breathe more easily. Things were being done, he just wished that Dumbledore would look at him.

Yugi shifted in his grip and gave Harry a questioning look. Harry frowned at him in confusion, what did Yugi want? This would be so much easier if Yugi would talk in front of the other people. The elf's gaze became more pressing, but Harry was distracted as the other Weasleys arrived, the twins and Ginny looked sleepy and a little frightened.

Unfortunately Harry had nothing to comfort them with. Dumbledore began to pull things out of his desk draw. He finally located an old bottle, tapping it with his wand he held it out,. The Weasley's and Harry moved forwards automatically reaching out to touch the new portkey.

Harry kept a tight grip on Yugi as the transporting magic jerked him off the ground. As they spun through space Yugi gripped Harry's shirt, shaking badly.

They landed in the kitchen in Grimmauld Place with a thump. Yugi immediately hurled himself from Harry's arms and went and hid behind the stove. Apparently he wasn't a fan of Portkey travel. Sirius appeared in the doorway he smiled comfortingly at them. "Hello everyone, would you like something to drink?"

The others nodded, while Harry began to try and get Yugi out from his hiding place. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

_Sorry that was a bit of a random place to stop, but it was getting a bit long, the next part will be up soon, promise._

_Merry Christmas everyone!_


	20. The Darkness and Mr Weasley

_I think my internet has been fixed. _

_Anyway as promised; the next chapter._

Chapter 20: The Darkness and Mr Weasley

Harry, Sirius and the Weasley children were all sitting around the kitchen table. It was silent, Harry had given up trying to get Yugi to come out so the elf remained hidden behind the stove. Once in a while he would peek out, but as soon as any of them looked at him he would duck back.

Harry's stomach felt odd and he was putting this down to Yugi's current state of nervousness. Harry was becoming more and more aware of Yugi's emotions as the year went by.

As they sat in the darkness there was a sudden pulse of power and a shadow wisped into existence on the table, carrying a piece of parchment. Harry's heart leapt into his mouth, he had completely forgotten about Yami. The Shade would be furious, no wonder Yugi was hiding.

Harry quickly reached out and grabbed the note before anyone else could notice it and read the neat flowing script while holding the parchment under the table and out of view:

_Harry Potter, I am not best pleased with you. I leave you alone so that my presence does not worsen your condition, and next I find that you have left the safety of the school taking Yugi where I cannot follow. You are lucky that your female friend Hermione told me of your commanders decision to send you away and that Ron's parent had been harmed. Otherwise you may not have had a school to come back to. Next time you will take the time to warn me. Yami_

Harry gave dry laugh, which he quickly disguised as coughing. He could well imagine the Shade pacing the common room wondering where on earth they had gone.

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Yami clenched his shadows and put all his will power behind the demand to Yugi that the elf would keep the darking who had delivered the letter with him. Yami was not going to leave the elf out in the human world with only a few human children to protect him.

Darkings had no real magic but they were good as distractions especially among humans who tended to shriek 'Shade' and run for their lives. The darking would give Yugi time to get away. Yami didn't care how much the tiny elf moaned about it, he was not going to give in this time.

After a great deal of arguing Yugi relented. Yami was glad because contacting Yugi through the bond over this distance was very difficult.

For a while Yami wandered aimlessly around the castle, he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do while Yugi was away. His wanderings brought him close to the practice room and that darkness. That gave Yami an idea of what he could do with his spare time, but he would have to wait until the school cleared of people. His idea had the potential to be ...explosive

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Harry yawned again, they were still sitting at the table waiting for word on Mr. Weasley. Yugi was now singing to himself, though the elf remained behind the stove. Harry could tell from the tone of the song that whatever had been bothering him was bothering him no longer.

Harry looked around, but no one was asleep. Once in a while someone would take a sip from their bottle of butterbeer, but everyone was waiting on tender hooks.

There was suddenly a flash of flame, interrupting the quiet darkness which had developed. Everyone jumped and from the flame a note appeared attached to a scarlet feather. Ron lunged for it and read it aloud. "Dad's fine, with him at St Mungo's, stay put. Mum."

Harry suddenly felt as though he was a balloon that all the air had leaked out of. He slumped into his chair, setting the bottle on the table carefully with shaking hands. Mr. Weasley was all right, Harry hadn't killed him.

The Weasleys were all smiling and Ginny was hugging Sirius. Harry's godfather was grinning right back at them. "Well, since it is technically early morning, shall we have breakfast?"

To no one's surprise Ron agreed heartily. So Sirius hurried into the kitchen to find them breakfast. Harry decided to try and entice Yugi out of his hiding place again. This time the elf came when Harry called. He had a streak of dust on his nose and his hair had cobwebs tangled in it. His big eyes had a question. Harry could only assume it was about Mr. Weasley. "He's going to be alright." Harry said, saying it aloud again made it seem all the more real this time. Yugi smiled and leaning in to hug Harry spoke into his ear. "Yami isn't happy, but he's going to stay at Hogwarts."

Harry was glad but he hadn't thought that Yami was going to do anything else during the holidays.

"Was he going to come to the Burrow with us?" He asked the elf quietly.

Yugi nodded. "It took a lot to convince him to stay put, but he will."

Suddenly a thought occurred to Harry. "What about the summer holidays, we go home for three months?" An image of ruby-eyed Yami seated on the Dursley's couch came to mind and while it would be funny to watch Yami torment them he didn't think it would be a good way to keep him secret. "Is he going to stay at Hogwarts then?"

Yugi shook his head. Ron had wandered over and looked confused until he caught on who they were talking about. "Would Yami even be able to find this place? There are the best misdirection spells on it and Dumbledore is Secret Keeper." Ron had missed the first part of their conversation.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "It would only be the anti-Shade spells that would affect him. I've checked, there is nothing else here that would stop him human magic really isn't all that effective against Shade's." Then turning back to Harry and answering his question. "He will probably insist on coming to your home with us during summer, we will have to work out what we are going to do when the time is closer." Yugi fell silent as Fred and George made their way over to see what they were making a fuss of.

It took a few minutes to convince them that it was nothing important and by that time Sirius and Ginny came in with bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast. Harry's stomach rumbled loudly. He hadn't realised how hungry he was. The others must have been as well because they immediately began to wolf down food. Yugi picked up a piece of toast and began to eat watching all of them.

As Harry turned his own attention to his plate of food he thought he caught sight of a shadow moving in a different direction to the others. When he turned his head however it wasn't there. Harry frowned. Yugi had said that Yami was still at Hogwarts and Yugi never lied.

Also from what Hermione had told him and Yami had corroborated Shades couldn't stop causing humans to feel fearful and no one in the room was being particularly down. Harry tried to catch sight of the shadow again, but it was gone. Harry shook his head, he was seeing Shade's everywhere now. It had probably just been a trick of the light. He turned his attention back to his breakfast.

Yugi unnoticed by anyone else, dipped his hand into his pocket, to ensure that the tiny darking remained in its hiding place ths time. The darkings were a Shade secret, Yami wouldn't be happy if the humans found out about it. Yugi would have to ensure that he and his effective guard were very careful.

* * *

Harry leant forwards in the train. Yugi was sitting on his lap watching all the muggles with a great deal of interest. He didn't know what he was going to say to Mr. Weasley when he saw him. Harry was hoping that Yugi's presence would be enough to distract him. It had worked with those members of the Order so far, Moody, Tonks and Lupin had all started to talk to him, only to become focused on Yugi.

The little elf wasn't happy about the attention, but he bore it, if only because it kept everyone's attention away from Harry. In fact at the moment everyone really was looking at Yugi, all the muggle women were looking at the two of them with adoring looks on their faces. Harry could hear some of them whispering to each other about how adorable Yugi was and how nice it was that Harry was helping out his elders by carrying him.

Mrs. Weasley edged up to Harry. "I'm happy to hold onto him if that makes it easier Harry dear." The Order and the Weasleys had begun to do the same thing all the students at Hogwarts had been doing, talking to Harry as though Yugi didn't understand what was being said around him.

Since Yugi hadn't complained Harry said nothing, though it did irritate him a little. Yugi shrunk back into Harry a little, his eyes wide and shook his head. "Sorry Mrs. Weasley but he's really shy of new people."

Mrs. Weasley's face fell, but she recovered and smiled down at Yugi. "Alright dear, just let me know if you need anything." She edged back and Ron shuffled into her place.

"Mum still bothering you?" He grinned.

Yugi rolled his eyes and smiled back. "She scares me." He said softly, Harry wasn't really sure about that. Mrs. Weasley was intimidating, but not scary, at least not to him.

Ron shifted a little and looked around suspiciously. "Yugi I was wondering, you can heal right?'

Yugi tilted his head on the side, but he nodded.

"Do you think you can do something about Dad. I know the Healers said that he was better, but could you...anyway?"

Yugi shrugged."If I can, I will." Harry was jerked forwards by the train stopping. He was about to wait to let everyone else get off first, but all the muggle women smiled and motioned him off. He gave them confused smiles and tripped off the train, turning to wait for the others.

Harry shifted nervously, he felt very out in the open. Sure he had Yugi here, but somehow there was something immensely comforting about knowing that Yami was around. After all he was, as far as could be determined, indestructible. Without him there, lurking in the shadows Harry felt jumpy.

Finally the others joined him and to Harry's surprise, Yugi relaxed as they closed ranks around them. Apparently he wasn't the only one missing Yami's over-bearing protectiveness.

They made their way through the bustling city to St Mungos disguised as a clothes shop closed for renovations.

Yugi shivered and giggled as they passed through a solid seeming door to step into the cool entrance of the wizarding hospital. Harry looked down as the little elf squirmed in his arms. "Tickles." He giggled.

Harry grinned at him and picked up his pace as the others began to leave him behind. He followed Mrs. Weasley through the hallways and up lifts until they reached the ward where Mr. Weasley was staying. Yugi had been very interested in the people they passed in the corridors, especially those in the lime-green robes of the Healers, the wizarding versions of doctors.

As they reached the ward Ron hung back to stand with Harry, he guessed that his friend was eager to have Yugi look at his dad. Harry couldn't blame him, despite the assurances he was still worried about Mr Weasley.

There was however nothing to worry about. When Mrs. Weasley hustled them into the ward Mr Weasley was sitting up in bed reading the Daily Prophet. As they entered he looked up and grinned at them. "Hello everyone."

"Dad!" All the Weasleys hurried forwards. Harry hung back again, he felt like an intruder and a liar, after all it had been him who had attacked Mr Weasley in the first place. Yugi was looking at Mr Weasly with an intent look before he nodded.

"Harry put me on the bed please." He said quietly and flexed his fingers purple light began to gather at their tips. Harry frowned down at him, but moved forward cautiously. It was at that point that Mr Weasley noticed him. "Harry, hello and welcome..." He was obviously about to continue in a spiel that would have made Harry terribly embarrassed, but Yugi had wriggled out of Harry's arms and dropped onto the bed.

This effectively distracted Mr Weasley, the little elf walked up the bed spread and stood in front of Mr Weasley. "You must be Yugi, hello."

Yugi nodded before he reached forwards and pulled back the blanket.

Mrs Weasley made a protesting noise and moved forwards, Ron intercepted her. "It's alright mum, Yugi's just gonna have a look at the bite."

"Why dear." Mrs Weasley was looking anxiously at Yugi who was wrestling with Mr Weasley who was trying to prevent him from undoing the bandages. Harry was trying hard not to laugh, the elf despite his diminutive size was incredibly strong and easily a match for Mr Weasley.

Harry answered. "Yugi can heal Mrs Weasley, he may be able to fix Mr Weasley completely."

Everyone looked confused, but Yugi had finally managed to pull the bandages off. The wound was bad, it was bleeding a lot. Yugi ignored this and laid one tiny hand over the holes from the snake's fangs. For a long moment nothing happened and then the bleeding slowed and stopped.

Yugi took his hands away and wobbled over to Harry before falling into his arms. The elf snuggled down into Harry's chest and fell asleep.

Mr Weasley was staring at him in amazement. "What did he do, nothing the Healers could do would make the bleeding stop."

Harry shook his head and looked down at Yugi's sleeping face, whatever he had done had taken a lot out of him. While Yugi could heal his young age meant that his reserves of strength were only small and reversing the venom from the snake's fangs had taken a lot of strength. Harry didn't know how it was he knew this, but somehow the information was just there in his head.

The Weasleys were talking excitedly and Lupin was dispatched to find the Healer in charge. Harry exchanged a look with Ron and quietly left the room. He didn't think that Yugi would appreciate being quizzed about what he'd done to fix Mr Weasley where the human Healers had been able do nothing.

It was considerably harder to carry a sleeping Yugi. When he was awake he held on, asleep he was a dead weight. Admittedly it was only a small weight, but he was still a double armful.

Harry leant against the doorframe, this was another thing Yami was useful for, the Shade was always happy to take Yugi if Harry had other things to do. Yami never seemed to struggle to hold Yugi. Harry supposed it was easier to do anything when you could change your body around at will.

Harry wandered around the hospital until Ron came and found him. "The Healers still want to keep dad for another couple of days to make sure he doesn't start bleeding again."

Harry nodded. "He's not awake yet, I don't know how long he'll sleep for." He told Ron in response to his friend's interested look down at Yugi's face.

"Okay." Ron said, straightening. "Well we're going now. Just warn Yugi, everyone's going to quiz him when he wakes up. According to the Healers, whatever he did is impossible."

Harry moaned as they made their way down the stairs. "Great just what I need, Yugi won't talk to them. Why can't they just accept that and leave him alone?"

Ron shrugged and held the door open; Harry shuffled past and into the fray of Weasleys and members of the Order.

All of them were talking to him excitedly. Yugi was still fast asleep, though how the elf could sleep through the noise was a mystery to him. Harry shrugged awkwardly. "Look I don't know what he did, and I know he won't answer you. He doesn't talk to anyone but me." Harry decided to skip the fact that Yugi talk to Ron and Hermione that would just confuse things.

"I'm sure he will answer our questions, after all we are grateful." Mrs Weasley said. "But we will head home and wait for him to wake up." Harry sighed but didn't argue there was no point. They would work it out eventually.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami watched the students leaving. Hermione threw a slightly nervous glance over her shoulder. He had frightened her terribly when he had questioned her about Yugi and Harry's whereabouts. Yami drew into human form and waved at her from the window, she gave him a very small smile and got into one of the carriages pulled by the Thestrals.

There were a few children staying behind and all the teachers. That was inconvenient; it meant that he would have to be a little more careful. Yami made his way to the practice room.

The magic didn't respond to his thoughts and needs as it did to the human children. So Yami had to physically pull off the Shade spells which hid the room and use the magic in the walls to pull around the version of the room that he wanted.

Yami paused, the bond to Yugi was tingling. Focussing his mind and energies on the bond Yami reached along it. As soon as he was able to put enough power into it to reach across the distance between them Yami sensed that Yugi was exhausted. Yamigrowled, why had Harry let him get so tired?

Yugi was drifting off to sleep as he replied, /Healing/.

Yami stopped his mental torturing of the human child who protected his elf, /Who?/ He asked, knowing that if he put too much into the message Yugi wouldn't be able to reply, as it was there was a long pause before Yugi could summon enough strength to answer. /Ron's parent, talk later, tired/.

Yami rumbled his displeasure and offered to come to Yugi. The elf managed to order him to remain where he was before his mind drifted off. Yami gave a nearby wall a death glare before releasing the bond. Yami definitely needed something to distract himself now.

Yami sent out his senses. He hadn't put up any boundary spells as technically this was not a territory and he didn't have to worry about other Shades coming into the school. But he did want to know if there were any other creatures approaching. There were none.

So Yami drew together and stepped into the room in human form. Without Yugi he had no colouring spells which meant if anyone met him they were guaranteed to know what he was, unless they were as clueless as Harry was.

Once he was inside the room he felt a little safer. With a tweak of the Shade spells he caused a rippling effect through the mer-magic which hid the room. Yami effectively closed it preventing anyone from entering. Unless of course they were stronger than he was and that was unlikely. Steeling himself Yami made his way down the aisles, he remained in his human form as he wanted to try something.

The distasteful sense of that tainting darkness was much less when his essence was shielded by the thick layers of magic which gave him the illusion of a physical body. Yami took advantage of that, he began to search through the piles of human junk in the corner of the room where the tainting was. He tried to avoid probing around with his mind, but the darkness stung.

Yami had no idea how long he searched, but he had picked up every single piece of junk in that corner of the room and not one of them held the tainted darkness. He stepped back and sat on a chest of drawers to think.

He could still sense it here, around him in the air, yet nothing seemed to hold that darkness. Yami refused to believe that the darkness was in the air. For one thing it would move around more if it was in the air and for another, the thought that this wrong sensation was in the very air he moved through freaked him out.

No it was definitely in something, but it was protected. Or was protecting itself; shielding itself. Well, dragon magic had the best sort of attack, and there was plenty of that in the magic ingrained into the walls. Yami would see how well this thing's defence stood up to a blast of dragon fire.

Yami backed up and released his illusion spells, his shadows rippled along the walls twining into the ingrained magic. Yami dragged the power to his core and arranged it while he examined the room for the best point to attack.

Yami's shadows drew instinctively back from a certain point near to where he had been sitting before. With the dragon magic drawn into his core and ready he took aim. The magic sizzled through him and slammed into the cabinet where he could sense the darkness.

Yami was hurtled backwards with the force of the explosion. After his senses had stopped ringing and the room had stopped spinning, Yami looked at the cabinet or at least what remained of it. All that was left was a pile of cinders and some strange piece of twisted metal.

Yami edged closer and was hit with a wave of malevolent energies. He couldn't help but be amused at that, whatever this darkness was it was still protecting itself, though the shielding was gone. However it had obviously been made to defend against human assault. Well that was useful, the energies that this thing was giving off simply refilled Yami's energy reserves, severely depleted from using the dragon magic.

That was comforting. That this darkness which had for months been creating a sensation that drove even him away was now totally incapable of producing anything to protect itself.

Yami backed off a little and thought. He may as well destroy this thing now, before it could get its defences up again.

The twisted metal which Yami assumed was what held the darkness had withstood a blast of dragon fire, that meant that it needed a great deal of power to be destroyed. Yami looked around the room. Well he had a well of power here, surely there was enough. Yami braced himself, this was not going to be comfortable, but the thought that he would soon be free of this and maybe be able to get it out of Harry as well was encouraging.

He tapped into the earth magic and made a power cord from it to his own magic. Then he drew on that power. Energy filled him, it pinched, but Yami ignored it and drew in more, filling his essence with earth magic, he wove the spell.

Humans thought that their death spells were effective, but Yami had a death spell in his repertoire that made the human's killing curse seem like a two year old squashing a bug. He fed all the energy from the earth magic into the spell until he could hold it no longer.

Then Yami threw it at the darkness-metal and fled. He wasn't quite fast enough as the resulting blast of power knocked him flying again. His shadows were crushed and pulled and twisted as the power overflowed and something else, shrieking in agony and fury, exploded.

Yami managed to pull himself together and trickle over to where the darkness had been. Had been being the operative phrase, there was now nothing That horrible sense of darkness was gone. Along with the metal, the cabinet and a large portion of the other pieces of junk in that section of the room.

Yami considered the spot, so maybe not doing this on Harry.

* * *

_I hope I'm not the only one who finds the image of Yami facing off with an inanimate object funny._


	21. Christmas

_Sorry about the lack of activity, I've had the chapter written for ages, but the internet has completely carked it and its taken ages to get it fixed. Now that it is fixed though hopefully updates will be back on track._

Chapter 21: Christmas

Harry stepped into the cool interior of Grimauld Place. Yugi was still asleep. Harry was beginning to worry about him, surely that little bit of healing shouldn't have exhausted him that much.

Harry decided that he wasn't going to wait until Mrs Weasley and the Order members cornered him. He crept along the hall ensuring he didn't wake Mrs Black before dashing upstairs to hide in the room that he and Ron shared.

Harry was so surprised by Kretcher, standing nervously in the room that he nearly dropped Yugi. The small ugly House Elf was hovering in the corner of the room, muttering to himself. As soon as Harry stepped into the room Kretcher looked up.

The door creaked open behind him and Harry spun, the movement waking the sleeping elf in his arms. It wasn't Mrs Weasley to Harry's relief, but Ron. Ron gave Kretcher a bemused look.

Harry turned after Yugi muttered something softly to find Kretcher sprawled on his face on the ground.

"What's he doing?" Ron scoffed.

Harry shrugged confused as Kretcher began to mutter slightly louder. "Kretcher is honoured, Kretcher asks if there is anything he can do?"

Harry wasn't sure who was being addressed, but he decided to answer anyway. "Ah, no Kretcher, we don't need anything at the moment, thanks anyway." Kretcher raised his head and his eyes flickered to Yugi then with a crack he was gone.

"What the hell was that about?" Ron asked.

Harry cut him off. "Dobby was acting really weird when I saw him as well." He looked down, Yugi was settling down to go back to sleep. "Forget it, you are going to answer some questions." He set the sleepy elf on Ron's bed and sat on his own. Yugi looked uncomfortable.

"What questions?" He asked softly.

"Why do the House Elves all act so strange around you, like you're some kind of royalty." Harry demanded.

Yugi yawned. "We are their elders, my people are older than their people and we are free. We are also a lot stronger than they are, magically. So they treat us with respect, they only act strangely because most of them are not used to seeing us."

"If you are their elders, then why don't you free them?" Ron asked, Harry glanced sharply at his friend and wondered if Hermione had possessed him.

Yugi yawned again. "We can't; they put themselves into the slavery and made the terms. If a House Elf comes to us, then we will work to free them, but we cannot free all of them. It would anger the humans. There are not many of my people left and we cannot risk a war against the humans."

Ron shrugged and then someone knocked on the door. Mrs Wealsey poked her head through the door. "Lunch is ready dears." She said, her eyes fell on Yugi and she smiled at him. Yugi gave another huge yawn and settled down on Ron's bed, obviously feeling that the questioning was over.

Harry got up and looked down at the little elf. Mrs Weasley's head had disappeared, so he guessed it was alright to ask another question. "Why'd this healing take so much out of you?"

Yugi opened one bright eye. "The wound was made by something dark and the poison had been there for some time, it took more energy to remove it, I will be alright by tonight."

Then he was asleep.

Harry followed Ron down stairs to lunch. The Order was watching him carefully, but no one asked him any questions something that he was very grateful for.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami made his way to the sleeping rooms again. He had hoped that destroying the darkness would take him a little longer than an hour's work. Now what was he going to do?

He poked around the room a little before settling down into his corner. He knew he was going to get bored here. There were very few humans within the castle at the moment and he couldn't get energy from them because doing so would reveal his presence.

He glared at a nearby brick.

This was no fun at all.

Yami knew what he could do. The question was did he have enough energy to do it.

This was going to be one of the few times he would be able to do this, but it was risky. The more Yami thought about it the more he thought it was a good idea, it would give him something to do, something that would take a long time.

Yami slid out of the window and moved off.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Hermione's arrival created a burst of explanations. She was sitting in their room telling them about Yami.

"He wasn't happy. He came into my room and carried me out to some empty classroom"' Harry shuddered at the thought of travelling like that again.

"He wanted to know where you had gone, I didn't know, but when McGonagall came and found me later and told me what had happened I passed it onto him." Hermione looked a little wild eyed. She had never had to deal with Yami without having Harry or Yugi as an intermediary.

The door creaked open and Ginny leant in. "Dinner." She said and disappeared again.

Harry was a little reluctant to bring Yugi down to dinner, but the elf was hungry. Harry knew that the Order was going to question Yugi and for some reason this made Harry very nervous and irritable.

They sat down at the table, Yugi on Harry's lap. Harry began to fill his plate with food, filling a second plate for Yugi. The elf began eating before Harry had even finished.

Mrs Weasley bustled over. "Hungry dear, well you eat up." She reached out and patted Yugi's hair gently. The elf twitched and looked up, his mouth full.

Harry resisted the urge to jerk him away, why was he being this protective?

Yugi turned his head and looked at Harry. The elf didn't seem bothered by the attention, though Harry suspected that this had more to do with the fact that he was starving.

Lupin leant forwards over his plate and looked at Yugi. "So, how is it that you can heal something that no human potions or magic could even effect?"

Yugi looked up but continued to eat, saying nothing.

Harry was about to interrupt when Mad-Eye spoke up. "Come on then, speak up boy. We could use your knowledge."

Yugi turned his full attention back to his dinner, poking through the food on his plate for the bits that he liked. Harry decided it was time that he got involved. "He won't answer you, he only talks to me. It's the same with all elfin children they only talk to their parents. Ask Dumbledore if you don't believe me.'"This was bending the truth a little, but it would be worth it if they left Yugi alone.

Mrs Weasley peered kindly down at Yugi. "But why dear, we only want to thank him."

Harry sighed, "You have and he say's your welcome, just because he doesn't talk doesn't meant that he doesn't know what you are saying. You won't get any answers out of him, besides I don't think that we can mimic what he did." Harry leant back from the table, Yugi squeaked softly and wriggled forwards so that he could keep eating. Harry didn't know where the elf was putting it all.

All the Order members were frowning. None of them were happy about this, but they didn't comment. The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. When Yugi had finished eating he watched everyone else, if the adults looked at him he would give them his biggest brightest smile and look away. Harry was trying very hard not to laugh, Yugi was seriously unsettling the adults.

Harry left the table as soon as he could and made his way upstairs. He was tired and Yugi was blinking at him sleepily. He still hadn't fully recovered from healing Mr Weasley.

Harry sunk down onto his bed and Yugi curled up next to him. The elf was asleep almost instantly, Harry took longer to fall asleep; he was worried about dreaming again what if he hurt someone else?

Harry's worries worked their way into his dreams as he fell asleep that night. He dreamed of Mr Wealsey broken and bleeding on the floor, with Harry standing over him, then Yami was standing there. The Shade was congratulating him and when Harry looked up there was a mirror and his reflection had the same blood red eyes as the living shadow.

Harry jerked awake and sat up, he was gasping for breath. Ron stirred next to him and Yugi was looking up as well. Ron's eyes fell immediately onto the pile of presents sitting at the foot of the bed. "Excellent." He cheered and fell on them sending wrapping paper flying.

Harry rubbed his eyes he didn't feel any more awake this morning than he had when he went to bed last night.

Yugi was examining the presents next to Harry's bed. He turned and looked at Harry with confusion. "What are they?" He asked.

Ron looked over with astonishment. "You mean you don't have Christmas!"

Yugi shook his head. Harry leant over and picked up one of the presents that had Yugi's name on it. He handed it to the elf. "This one's yours, it's a present a gift, it's from Mr and Mrs Weasley."

Yugi bit his lip as he held the carefully wrapped package, his big eyes filled with tears. Harry felt a nervous twisting in his stomach, he wasn't going to start crying again was he?

He wasn't. Yugi smiled wetly and began to delicately unwrap the package. "But I didn't get them anything, I didn't get anyone anything." His eyes flickered up and noted that there were three other packages lying in wait for him, one from each of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"We don't need anything from you Yugi, just a smile and a thank you." Harry said, hugging the elf. It was true, a smile from Yugi was enough to make your whole day worthwhile.

Yugi obliged, and his smile widened as he finally managed to pull the paper from the first present to reveal the traditional knitted Weasley jumper. Yugi's was in bright purple wool with a yellow 'Y' on it. Just as Harry was marron with a 'H'. Ron rolled his eyes, he had already opened all his presents and was now watching Harry and Yugi open theirs. Yugi seemed absolutely delighted with the jumper and proceeded to pull it on. He was beaming as he pulled the next present to him.

Harry barely noticed what he had gotten, he was too busy watching Yugi's utter delight at the new found wonders of Christmas.

Hermione had knitted him a pair of mittens and a pair of socks to match his hat and scarf, Ron had bought him a jumbo sized box of sugar quills. Harry decided that he would be rationing them, who knew what kind of things Yugi would do on the sugar high he would be on if he ate all of them at once. Yugi was already sucking on one as he opened the last present, Harry's.

Harry hadn't been sure what to get him. It was only after a bit of advice from a slightly confused Yami, the Shade hadn't understood the idea behind Christmas either, that he had decided to get Yugi a teddy bear.

The bear was light brown and almost as big as Yugi himself, apparently Yugi had had something like it before his village was destroyed.

Yugi looked up at him, hugging the bear to his chest. He wriggled to his feet, wobbled over to Harry through the sea of wrapping paper and hugged him too. "Thank you Harry."

Yugi proceeded over to Ron and repeated the process, leaving the red head glowing with embarrassment.

The door opened and Fred, George, Ginny and Hermione squashed themselves into the room. People began to talk everywhere, but someone in the midst of it all Harry noticed Yugi make his way over to Hermione and hug her thank you. Harry smiled, then his stomach rumbled.

"Hey." He yelled over the comparison of presents. "I'm starving, is breakfast ready?"

All the joy in the room, especially Yugi's he suspected, had done more to revive him than his miserable night's sleep had done.

They made their way down to breakfast. Sirius was in a good mood, Harry's godfather was singing happily as he handed around plates. Yugi had walked down, well jogged, his much shorter legs took time to keep up with everyone else.

As he stepped into the room, keeping so close to Harry's legs that Harry wondered how he hadn't fallen over the elf. Yugi seemed to come to a decision.

He braced himself and teddy in tow made his way over to Mrs Weasley. Yugi followed her around for a few moments, he was so tiny and made no move to get her attention that she didn't see him. Harry edged closer and spoke up for his charge. "Mrs Weasley, Yugi wants to say thank you for the present."

Mrs Weasley looked down, Yugi gave a nervous smile and lifted his arms. Ron's mother bent and picked him up carefully. Yugi gave her another, brighter smile and kissed her cheek. He then turned and reached out to Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived smiled at him and took him from the astonished woman.

"Well." She said, blinking rapidly. Harry knew that sensation, Yugi had that effect. "You're very welcome dear and it looks lovely on you." Yugi smiled and hugged his teddy, then his attention was caught by the table.

Harry had been working hard to ignore the smells coming off the breakfast table, now he turned his full and undivided attention to it. This was Christmas as well, food.

* * *

_You know in that entire chapter there was only two important pieces of information. They weren't even big pieces of information. _

_Still introducing Yugi to Christmas was fun. Next chapter will be very information filled, I think._


	22. The Village

Chapter 22: The Village

Yami glided through the forest, he didn't hurry. After all he had a month or so in human time to get this done. The forest moved around him, animals peered out from the shadows of the trees. The trees themselves whispered and sung.

Yami relaxed as he crossed his old boundary spells. There had been no intrusion, no other Shade had taken his territory.

Yami suspected there were several reasons for that, primarily his reputation had preceded him. There weren't many Shades as old as him, secondly now that the elves were gone, there was nothing here to energise a Shade.

Yami decided to take a detour, he circled his whole territory checking and strengthening the boundary spells. Perhaps it was a waste of energy, but Yami felt like he had to protect the village, even if there was no one left there.

After he had refreshed the spells Yami made his way to the village itself.

Very little had changed, the only real difference was that the bodies of the dead elves were gone. Yami supposed that was the work of the elves from Ryou's village. Yami made his way around the ruins examining everything with minute detail.

He had been too preoccupied with what Yugi was doing too look around properly when they had left before. Now Yami examined everything carefully, looking for traces of magic to find whoever had done this.

He would discover it if it took him all year.

The biggest problem with his plan was the fact that everything was overlaid with elfin magic and this made it extremely difficult to detect any other magic.

Yami began to play with his vision filters; a bit of earth magic here, a little Shade magic there. Nothing out of the ordinary...wait. Yami drew his attention to that single spark he had seen. He backed up the filters and peered at it, there!

It was the last remnant of a human spell, with only the slightest remnant left Yami had no idea what spell it actually was. Yami moved closer and tested the magic, carefully if he was too hard on it the last piece would fade into the ether.

It took Yami several hours to carefully take that tiny spark apart, when he finally managed to pull the concealing layers off he rocked back and had to clamp down on his fury.

He recognised the magic.

The thing with magic was it took an imprint of the being that cast it and held onto it until the last of it faded. If you knew what you were looking for you could determine just who it was who had cast the spell.

Yami had managed to pull out that imprint, and he knew exactly who had cast the spell. He had encountered the human before; it was one of Voldemort's humans, a Death Eater.

Yami growled in the dim light beneath the trees, he would find this human and that human would lead him to Voldemort.

Yami remembered the destruction of the tainted darkness in the castle, it would be the perfect death for someone who had destroyed this place, who had tainted the purity that was her people. Yami hissed in the dim light, that death would be too good for those who had hurt Yugi in this way, but it would be satisfying to watch them die none-the-less.

That single spark in the undergrowth was the beginning of a trail. Now that Yami knew exactly who he was looking for he could find the human's trail around the village.

Following that trail however was difficult, it was a very old trail and the magic had been fading for a long time. In some places it was completely gone and Yami had to move in increasing large circles to find the point where the trail renewed.

Really it was fortunate for him that magical trails hung around for so long. If he had been much longer in detecting it he would have missed it entirely.

Yami followed the trail taking his time to ensure that he didn't miss anything. The spark made its way through the village before heading away, out into the forest towards a nearby human population.

The trail wove through the forest. As he moved Yami took human form, the vision filters which let him focus on the trail worked better when he was in this form with actual eyes to lay the spells on.

Yami was glad that the elfin magic that filled this forest prevented the humans from using their little teleporting magic.

Despite this Yami knew that at some point he was going to have to track their transporting magic. So while he tracked he planned.

The forest was quiet at the moment, without the elves there the trees were beginning to go back to sleep.

Yami passed a couple of non-magic humans. They were trying to catch fish from the river. Yami couldn't help himself, he stopped and sent out tendrils of his shadows towards the humans. They began to shiver and they both looked around nervously. "Someone just walked over my grave." One of them said, the other looked over at his companion nervously.

"This place freaks me out." He noted and began to shiver more ferociously. Both of them began to feel the full effects of Yami's magic. They were both in the grips of a bone chilling fear, Yami kept the magic up until his reserves were a little fuller. Then he left, as he did he heard the two humans saying that they were never coming back out here again.

Yami enjoyed his walk through the cool darkness of the woods, the three darkings that had come with him from the castle grounds played in the shadows as Yami followed that faint glimmering trail.

He had been right, as soon as the elfin magic lowered to a more manageable level where human teleporting magic could work, the trail stopped with a flare of human magic.

Yami hissed and paced angrily around he clearing.

Then he turned and focused on the flickering trail of magic, that was it, he had had enough. Yami wove a spell that very few Shades knew let alone were willing to use. It was a spell that required huge amounts of power, a spell that no young and unpracticed Shade could perform and even many of the older Shades wouldn't risk.

Yami was however now so far past irritated that he wove the spell and rammed all the stored energy from the earth magic he had left in his systems into the weaving.

His shadows rolled as the illusion was torn away, the spell picked him up and hurtled him forwards. Following the same line that the humans had taken with their own teleporting magic he was thrown across the country. As soon as he stopped Yami realized that he was in trouble, he had landed in the very centre of another Shade's territory.

Great and typical, Voldemort was still taking refuge behind the greater power of a Shade, though it was unlikely that this Shade knew he was being used.

He could sense the other Shade coming towards him. Yami prodded a little with his mind and then relaxed, this was a relatively young Shade. Even in his weakened state Yami could easily take him on.

Yami decided that ignoring him would be his best bet, though his instincts told him to stand and fight. Yami began to make his way out of the small territory still following the trail of human essence.

However as Yami was carefully following a trail and the other Shade was just chasing him, Yami was quickly overtaken.

As the other Shade drew closer Yami decided that he would have to deal with this now, and quickly. Yami turned and drew himself into human form and fixed the moving shadows with his eyes.

The young Shade stopped dead.

Yami smirked. He could sense now just how young this Shade was, it was remarkable that he had managed to establish a territory at all. None the less he was not up to taking on a Shade as old and strong as Yami, not even when Yami was tired out from using the transporting spell.

Power wasn't all he had to contend with. Yami had a great deal of experience fighting other Shades, something that this youngster would need at least another couple of centuries to match.

The other Shade hesitated for another moment before making a rather reckless move. He threw a spell at Yami, it was wobbly and very uncertain, so much so that Yami couldn't even determine exactly what the spell was supposed to do.

As such even in his human form Yami was able to counter it by simply waving his hand and redirecting the spells off into the forest. The spell hit a tree and knocked it over with a great thundering crash.

Yami turned his head as the youngster moved. "I do not wish to fight I have more important things to do." He said. Yami knew that that statement was inconsistent. Shades always fought when they met; it was tradition.

The other Shade twitched and managed to form a pair of lavender eyes floating in the dim wisping shadows. "Do you not have a territory of your own?" The voice that came from the Shade had those odd indecisive tones that meant he hadn't found a voice that suited him and it was obvious that he wasn't experienced enough to take human form.

Yami didn't answer but spun a shield and turned allowing his shadows to flow out and away from the trapped Shade. He could sense the youngster struggling to get out of the hastily constructed cage.

By the time he managed to smash his way out, through brute force mainly, Yami was well out of the territory and back on the trail of the human.

The trail ended at a small group of human houses. There were anti-Shade spells in the walls. And as much as Yami would have loved to have crossed them and obliterated all the humans within those walls, he was just too tired. His reserves were very low from tracking and teleporting.

He knew from experience that crossing those spells required strength and magic, not just blind determination.

Yami stretched out his senses as best as he could and found a nearby cluster of human houses. Non-magical, thankfully so he made his way over to them.

He found himself a comfortable spot within the small group of houses, wove a fear spell and settled down to rest. Yami could absorb emotional energy just as well when he wasn't paying attention as when he was.

It took several hours and two different towns for Yami to refill his reserves completely. That transporting spell had really taken it out of him.

Now he was on his way back to that cluster of houses he had tracked the human to. Yami flitted around the edges of the spells trying to reach out to determine if there were any humans within the house. Unfortunately his senses and magic were confused by the anti-Shade spells on the walls.

Yami was definitely going to have to go into the rooms which of course meant crossing the spells. He grumbled and readied himself. Yami brought to mind the reason he was doing this, he thought of Yugi and her and all his righteous fury at the actions of the humans who could be sheltering in this house.

Yami drew back and lunged forwards. His essence hit the spells and began to twist in agony. Ice and fire burned through him, these spells were newer than the ones around Hogwarts, but they were not nearly as strong. Yami struggled against them pushing with all his strength and finally they slid apart allowing him entrance. Conveniently allowing him to splat directly into a wall.

Yami threw a quick glance around the house to make sure that no one noticed his slightly undignified approach and made his way into the house. It was empty.

Yami drew his filters out again; they were getting a really good work out in the past few months. He checked the magic in the area. The spells were relatively new and almost all of them were familiar. Voldemort had definitely been here, though it had been some time since he had returned.

Yami floated around the room thinking. He could wait here for a time. The room held nothing of interest, but there was a chance that some of the other humans would return and then he would be able to question them.

This hunt had taken him only a little over a week. He still had a lot of time before Yugi returned to Hogwarts.

Yami's mind was made up, he would wait here for a few more weeks, if the humans returned then he would question them on their motives for attacking the elfin village. If they did not make an appeaance Yami would leave a calling card of sorts, something to ensure that Voldemort would know who he was and that he was not happy about the treatment of those creatures under his protection.

* * *

_A bit of playing with time in this chapter, I need something that will keep Yami occupied for a few weeks until everyone gets back to Hogwarts._

_Oh and hint hint, nudge nudge._


	23. Back to Work

_This chapter has been giving me a headache; it just wouldn't fall into place. Even this version I wasn't totally satisfied with, however the update was starting to drag on so this is what I have._

_I could have put the first part of this chapter at the end of the last one, but at the time I had a different idea for how this was going to work out. As such the first bit of this chapter follows on directly from the last one and then there is going to be a big jump and we'll catapult forwards to the start of school again._

_Sorry if my dates are a little off, but living in Australia means that our dates and seasons are opposite to the ones in England. I forget sometimes, so if the weather is wrong sorry, but I really struggle to imagine Christmas time being cold and snowy, especially when I am sitting here slowly roasting._

Chapter 23: Back to Work

Yami had been dozing in a corner when he sensed the approach of a human. It had only been a couple of days since he had arrived at this place.

There had been no activity and as there were no humans nearby Yami had been unable to revive his strength. Admittedly he didn't really need a boost; after all he was only combating humans. What harm could they do?

The humans got closer and Yami pulled in his shadows, he had been sort of sprawled around the room, but now he needed to be hidden, discrete. That would give him him a chance to leap out and rip their guts from their bodies.

There was a scraping sound and the door opened, a group of six humans slouched into the room. They all wore the long black robes that Yami had mimicked from the Death Eaters in the beginning.

They were talking so Yami forced himself to pay attention.

"Why are we back in this dump again?" One of them moaned.

"Because we have to take out another of those villages out in the woods." Another snapped back at him.

"Alright, I just don't see what is so important about them, they're just elves.' The first grumbled.

Yami hissed softly, they were going to attack another village. Most of the villages nearby were basic and simple. Elves were not soldiers, they would hardly even fight to defend themselves. They had few real defenses against an unwarned attack from humans.

Yami would not let Yugi lose anymore of his family. The Death Eaters had all looked towards him in confusion when he had hissed. So now Yami lunged forwards, his shadows moved around the room with deadly efficiency.

Voldemort was not here and it was the non-human who Yami really wanted to face. He would leave a message for him. Yami's three darkings had returned and each attached to the wands of three of the wizards preventing them from spelling him, something that would be ineffective but bothersome.

Yami rammed his shadows into the wizards and took total possession of them.

They would stand here, alone in this house until another Death Eater came to find them. Then they would pass on their message.

Yami activated the magic to ensure that it was working properly. The corpses jerked upright from their slumped posture and spoke in unison.

_Voldemort, our kind have long memories, your life will not be worth the air you breathe should you continue on this path. Death will stalk you and when it finds you your agony will strengthen us for years to come._

Yami knew that Voldemort would not fail to recognize the magic or the implication in the last sentence. He was sure that his kin wouldn't begrudge him the implication of their whole race. After all Voldemort had betrayed and damaged a large proportion of the Shade population.

When Yami was sure that everything was set up he headed out.

The spell wouldn't fade he had drawn together a rope of earth magic to ensure it lasted.

Then he headed out. He travelled smoothly in a swift ground covering pace in a direction he'd been hoping he would never need to go again: towards Ryou's village.

* * *

It took Yami another week and a bit to make it to the edges of Bakura's territory. He had not been willing to risk another leap with the transporting spell and his path towards his final destination had come up to three different Shade territories. He had been forced to circle them.

His consolation for missing out on those fights was the inevitable and impending fight with Bakura.

Yami settled on the outskirts of Bakura's territory, just outside the boundary spells. There were several ways that he could do this, he could send a darking in to get Bakura or he could cross the boundary spells which would bring the Shade running.

Yami decided to go with the second option, it would be more fun.

Yamicould feel the spells activating, sending a message through to Bakura that a Shade had crossed into his territory. Yami remained near to the edges and waited. It wouldn't take long.

He was right. Within a few minutes Bakura arrived, shadows rippling angrily and slammed into Yami. Once again they wrested around the area, trees and rocks flew while the furious shadowy essences that were the two Shades grappled around the newly developed clearing.

Yami had no idea how long he and Bakura fought for. It could have been a few minutes, or a few years for all he knew. Yami had along the way encountered a few humans, so his reserves were at their peak. At this point in time, he and Bakura were in all senses of the word equal in strength.

It was good to be fighting again.

It was only a flicker which disturbed Yami's thoughts and concentration. It was a single note of irritation along the stretched and barely there bond to Yugi.

Yami jerked backwards and pulled away from the fight sliding backwards over the boundary. Bakura's shadows came right up to the border and snarled across the way at him.

Yami took the moment to consider the fact that Bakura probably hated him more that he hated Bakura.

Yami couldn't be bothered drawing together his shadows so he just spoke. "I came to warn you."

Bakura swirled around on the other side of the spells. "Against what?" He sounded like he was thinking up ways to attack without leaving his territory.

"The non-human. The one who tried to get the Shade's to work together, it was his people who attacked my village and he is sending out others to attack other villages. Warn Ryou." If there was one way to get Bakura to listen to him it was to mention a threat to Ryou.

Bakura snarled, "He will not make it through to Ryou. This human has become too inconvenient and if he comes anywhere near Ryou he will be nothing but a memory."

Yami agreed, actually he probably would have used a slightly harsher word for Voldemort. "There is something wrong about him. I'm not sure what it is, but I would suggest using the death spell should he come here."

"I don't need your suggestions." Bakura hissed at him.

Yami was indifferent. Now that Bakura knew about this, Ryou would as well and Ryou wasn't nearly as infuriating as Bakura. The elf would make sure that the information got to people who could use it.

Yami rolled backwards and headed back towards the school leaving Bakura to growl at his retreating shadows.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry moaned as light suddenly filtered through his eyelids and stabbed its way into his brain. Morning and they were returning to Hogwarts.

As Harry dragged himself out of bed he looked over at Yugi, the elf seemed to be the only one who was actually excited about returning to school. Then again, Yugi had something to look forward to. He hadn't seen Yami in weeks. Whereas Harry, Ron, Hermione and the others just had pile upon pile of school work to plough through, joy.

Harry had packed last night knowing from past experiences that he would not want to have to go through the trouble of hunting down all this things in the morning. By the time Harry had stumbled his way down to breakfast Yugi had already eaten, was dressed and waiting, seated on the closed lid of Harry's trunk.

The little elf had become more independent in the weeks they had spent in the house. Though he never really strayed all that far from Harry he had spent a great deal of time talking to Kretcher.

Sirius' House Elf doted upon Yugi. This confused Harry to no end because he still muttered curses and insults at everyone else, though Harry had noticed that the stream of mumbled words didn't often direct towards him anymore.

Sirius was not very happy at them all having to leave again. Harry knew that his godfather got lonely and that he hated having to stay in his house and hide while everyone else was out fighting Voldemort. Harry did he best to stay cheerful as he said goodbye.

"Keep safe Harry." Sirius said as he followed them out of the house onto the sidewalk. They would be taking the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts, Harry wasn't sure if this was because it was safer or because Yugi hated using Portkeys.

Yugi had explained his dislike of the travel, apparently it was because he needed to be able to see where he was going, both physically and magically. Portkey's messed with his magical senses, the same as Yami's method of carrying them did.

So the Knight Bus it was. Harry was a little concerned about travelling on the Bus again. When he climbed on the Bus was already half full, Harry gritted his teeth as witches and wizards craned forwards to get a good look at him.

Yugi was cradled in Harry's arms and the elf was watching everyone calmly.

Harry kept his head down throughout the trip, though this was a little difficult as he slid off his seat every time Ernie the driver turned a corner.

Yugi was giggling nonstop. He hadn't fallen off his chair once, instead his spindle legged chair was spinning and sliding around the bus, the only one which managed to remain upright.

As they rounded the last corner to head into Hogsmeade, Harry was once again dropped on his backside as his chair tipped over. Ron was muttering angrily, while Yugi's chair, with Yugi still perched on top spun past them allowing his musical little laugh to echo past them.

"How's he not fallen over yet?" Ron grumbled.

Harry couldn't help but grin at his friend. "I think he's cheating a little." The Knight Bus stopped in front of the Hogwarts Gate and all the passengers were hurtled forwards, Yugi cheered and threw his hands into the air as his chair whizzed towards the front of the bus.

As everyone else picked themselves up Yugi slid of his chair and smiled up at Harry. "Have you been eating more of those Sugar Quills?" He asked the elf, Yugi just grinned and waited impatiently by the door as Harry collected his things.

As he did Harry glanced out of the window and smiled. The shadows outside were moving in smooth regular flows. This would have been perfectly appropriate, if there had been wind to move the trees creating those shadows. Still it was nice to know that Yami was still trying to hide.

As soon as the Bus door opened they all tumbled out of it, Yugi eager to greet his friend everyone else just eager to get off the chaotic bus.

"Alright everyone you'll be safe enough once you're inside the grounds." Mrs. Weasley said. Harry grinned, too right they would be. "Off you go then and behave!" This last was directed at Fred and George primarily. The twins just grinned at their mother and pushed open the gates.

Yugi had already squirmed through the metal gate and was sitting on a fallen log waiting for them, the area around him was just a little too dark. Yami seemed to be glad to see Yugi as well.

As the six of them made their way down the track to the castle itself Harry whispered out the corner of his mouth. "Hey Yami, sorry about taking off on you like that, but we didn't get a chance to send you a message."

The Shade rumbled softly at Harry, but there didn't seem to be any anger in the sound so Harry guessed he had been forgiven.

Lots of other people were arriving at the same time as them. Everyone else had returned by the Hogwart's Express so when they walked through the doors into the Entrance Hall there were people everywhere, clogging up the works.

Harry carted Yugi and his bag upstairs. As prefects Hermione and Ron already knew the password, so his friends let him into the common room. It was as unchanged as ever.

They were not the only ones in the common room, so they couldn't talk to Yami. Harry was rather interested as to what the Shade had been doing for the last few weeks.

Students were moving around the castle, meeting up with friends, exchanging stories of the holidays and unpacking. Harry, Ron and Hermione collapsed into the comfy chairs by the fireplace.

Yugi was sitting on the rug at their feet. To everyone it probably looked like he was playing with his teddy, but Harry could see the trailing ends of Yami's shadow form. The Shade was involved in the game as well.

They headed downstairs for dinner, for once Yugi had decided to stay upstairs. Harry guessed that he and Yami had a lot to talk about.

Oddly while Harry was eating he found himself missing Yugi a great deal. It had been so long since he had not had Yugi within his sight that he caught himself constantly looked around for the little elf.

Hermione was watching him from the other side of the table and was smiling smugly in that odd knowing look that told him that she knew exactly what was going on with him and why.

Harry caught her eye. "Alright tell me." He said wearily.

Hermione smiled. "You would know if you had read Arkano's memoirs."

"Hermione." Harry said with as much patience as he could manage.

"Elfin children have a particular type of innate magic to them. They lose it when they are adults. Anyway, the magic produces a feeling of fulfillment which is supposedly very addictive. It is sort of a protective magic because most people wouldn't be willing to hurt anything that made them feel like that. I guess it also ensures that their parents don't abandon them."

Harry blinked at her, great so he was addicted to Yugi. That was just a little bit creepy.

Harry managed to get through the rest of dinner without being too obvious that he was impatient to get back to the common room.

Yugi was still where they had left him, sitting on an over-stuffed armchair his teddy seated next to him. He looked as though he had been doing nothing at all, but Harry could tell that he had been busy.

Harry hurried over and picked up the elf, he already felt better. Yugi laughed and hugged him. Harry supposed he knew what was going on, cheeky little thing that he was.

Over the holiday's Harry had finished all the holiday work that he needed to so his evening was free. He spent the time researching other spells to teach the DA and holding a muttered conversation with Yami about what the Shade would be going onto with concerning the earth magic.

By the time the common room had mostly emptied out Harry was ready to ask the Shade straight out what he had been doing for the past few weeks. He threw a quick glance around the room, no one was within hearing distance. So he asked. "Yami what have you been doing while we've been gone."

The Shade remained in shadow form and so it was a little difficult to talk to him. You were never really sure exactly where to direct your questions.

The shadows moved slightly and Yami's deep voice hummed out from somewhere near Hermione's chair. "Things."

Harry laughed softly, "Anything in particular?" He proded.

"No." The Shade replied, Harry didn't know how anyone could just spend weeks doing nothing, but hey when you were several thousand years old a few weeks was probably not really all that much time.

Yugi yawned widely so Harry grinned and picked him up. "Well goodnight." Ron packed up his things eagerly, any excuse not to do his work. Hermione clicked her tongue, but remained where she was. She was knitting furiously.

Harry went to bed, admittedly his bed was starting to get a bit full. Yugi slept with his teddy and the bear did take up a lot of space. Still he put up with it. Harry's night was thankfully undisturbed by dreams.

As Harry was heading down to breakfast the next morning, Yugi trotting along at his heels he ran into Hagrid.

His giant friend looked down, not to mention the new bruises and cuts on his face. Yugi greeted him with a laugh and his arms raised. He was duly picked up.

"Hey Hagrid, how were your holidays?" Harry asked. Grinning at Yugi who was hugging Hagrid happily, though his arms didn't even stretch halfway across the half-giant's chest. Hagrid seemed to perk up a little as Yugi smiled at him.

"Oh y' 'no not much, I'm on probation." Their friend muttered.

Harry's blood run cold it had to be Umbridge. Yugi made an indignant noise and looked up at Hagrid's face. "That's not fair." Harry said furiously.

Hagrid shrugged. "Ah well, can't say I wasn't expecting it. Well I better be goin'." Hagrid set Yugi on his feet and ambled off.

Yugi immediately turned to Harry and lifted his arms. Harry picked him up and the elf asked his question. "What does it mean; probation?"

"It means that Umbridge is going to try and find reasons to get Hagrid fired just because he is half giant." Harry said through clenched teeth.

Yugi frowned. "She isn't a very nice person."

Harry nodded and walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with Ron. They immediately began to discuss Hagrid. Hermione joined them later and immediately gasped when she opened her copy of the Daily Prophet.

Harry glanced over at her and she wordlessly passed the paper over. The headline and accompanying pictures on the front page made Harry shiver. 'Mass Breakout from Azkaban'.

The pictures were all of gaunt, scrawny people who looked to be way beyond completely insane. Harry shuddered and returned the paper. He didn't want to know anything else.

Yugi looked up at him, the elf had been singing softly again. Harry could now recognize that this was his way of communicating with Yami when the two couldn't talk out loud to each other. Yugi tilted his head slightly to the side in question.

"Death Eaters have broken out of the wizarding prison." Harry said.

Yugi went perfectly still, his amethyst eyes were wide in a look of terror. Harry stared, he didn't think that Yugi was even aware of who the Death Eaters were, let alone to be scard of them.

Yami's shadows moved slightly and tendrils rolled up the elf's arms. Harry hugged the little elf carefully with one arm while Yami's thick chilling shadows wrapping his arm in with Yugi's hug. "It's okay, they won't come here." Yugi shook his head and edged closer to Harry and then he looked down at Yami.

The Shade's red eyes appeared in the dimness under the table they seemed to convey something to Yugi. Harry felt a little more confused, but Yugi seemed to understand and relaxed.

The week passed slowly. Umbridge imposed several new and ridiculous rules, members of the DA kept approaching him and asking when their next lesson would be. So many of them in fact that by Tuesday Harry decided to set a date for their lesson next week just to get people off his back.

After all it was dangerous for lots of people to keep approaching him in the corridors. It would make the teachers suspicious.

Umbridge was present at all their Care of Magical Creatures, but then so was Yugi. Harry's tiny ward would sit patiently with all the creatures that they were looking at that day and everything went unbelievably smoothly at least with the animals, Hagrid seemed distracted and had trouble answering questions even though Harry knew that he knew the answers.

Hopefully so long as Yugi was willing to keep doing whatever it was he was doing Umbridge wouldn't be able to fire their friend.

Harry was fairly sure that Yugi would be able to keep a dragon calm if he needed to.

Yami still refused to tell them how he had spent his holiday. Harry knew his holiday hadn't been as uneventful as Yami seemed to be trying to make it.

He had heard some of the students who had stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas talking. There had been a very big explosion the day everyone had left from somewhere in the castle.

The teachers hadn't been able to work out what had happened or even where the explosion had come from. Mostly the students were passing it off as some bit of magic a student had tried and failed at and was refusing to come forward with it.

Harry supposed that was the advantage to living in a magical society. If something weird happened it was just magic. If there had been an explosion in a muggle school there would have been all kinds of investigations.

Really a lot happened in the first week back, their homework piles were back to reaching biblical heights. The only thing that really kept Harry from smashing his head on the table was the upcoming DA lesson.

As bad as he had felt after their last lesson from Yami Harry was eager to give it another go. None of them had practiced over the holidays, though on Yugi's advice they had continued to practice clearing their minds, apparently the more you practiced that the easier it became.

Harry had been very tempted to try and practice picking up the magic, after all they had Yugi to catch any backlash.

Hermione had thrown that idea out though. If one of the Order had caught them practicing a magic that no one else even knew existed they would be in serious trouble. Harry didn't know how long they really would be able to keep Yami a secret for, but he was hoping for at least a year. Then everyone in the DA would at least trust him enough to side with him if they had to go up against the teachers and the rest of the students.

* * *

_That was a bit of an awkward chapter, just because I had to get the characters back into everything again._

_In saying that having finished 'Before the Light' it makes referring to Yami and Voldemort's relationship a lot easier._


	24. A Real Lesson

_Hmm, my reviews have dropped off a little._

_Is everyone on holidays?_

_Or are you all getting tired of this story. I hope not because I am loving writing this._

_Anyway, quicker update this week because I'm going to be away for a bit, so I sat down and finished this off instead of dawdling until Saturday._

Chapter 24: A Real Lesson

Harry kept glancing at his watch as Wednesday passed. Surely their lessons would be over soon. He was as eager as everyone else to get back down to the Room of Requirement and have a real Defence against the Dark Arts lesson.

They were sitting in Charms, their last lesson of the day. Yugi was perched on a stool and was watching them all atempting to give their teacups legs. Harry was failing. He had managed to give his cup two legs, but the thing kept falling over as it tried to walk.

Ron was having similar troubles, while Hermione of course had managed to give her cup four perfect little legs and was now watching it walk around the table top. Harry poked his teacup again and the legs became longer.

Harry growled at the cup and Yugi laughed. Harry glanced over at him, "Any ideas." Yugi was usually very good at mimicking their magic with his own.

The elf tilted his head on the side then he shook his head. Harry blew a sigh and turned his attention back to the teacup not without throwing a quick glance at his watch again; nearly there.

Harry and Ron ploughed through their homework as quickly as possible and to their surprise actually got quite a lot of it done. The quality of the work was questionable but at least it was done.

Yugi was reading through Harry's Care of Magic Creatures essay on salamanders. Everyone found it a little odd that Yugi who really didn't look much older than five; though Harry suspected he was a bit older than that, could not only read the essay but understand and often correct it. Harry was just grateful for all the additional help he could get.

At quarter to nine they headed out of the common room. Harry didn't know where Yami was, but he assumed that the Shade would meet them in the Room of Requirement.

Harry peeked around the corner down the corridor where the door to the Room appeared. He leant backwards and checked the Marauders Map again.

He could see a couple of the DA coming up behind them, but there were no teachers anywhere. He led Ron and Hermione, carrying Yugi down to the wall where the door would appear.

Yami's shadows had met them on the seventh floor and trailed into the Room after them. Harry smiled around once they were all inside. Nohing had changed from their visits before the holidays.

Somehow that was comforting. Yami's shadows were drawing together in the centre of their practice spac. The Shade was getting much faster at taking human form. Within a few moments the short familiar figure was standing in the middle of the room his dark violet eyes watching them with that characterisitc look of amusement.

The Shade took his usual place in the corner as Harry paced the room, impatient for everyone to show up. He wanted to see if he was any better with the earth magic after meditating all holidays.

Yami was watching everyone as they entered the room and this allowed Harry the chance to really look at their Shade. Harry realised something, Yami seemed more at ease.

It wasn't glaringly obvious, but he seemed ever so slightly more relaxed. He wondered what had caused the change, surely not the school emptying out over the holidays.

Yami's disguised eyes slid over to Harry again and he moved away from the wall to address the students entering and chatting happily with each other.

Yami didn't have to speak loudly, his voice was able to carry perfectly over any amount of noise. "Meditate, until I tell you to stop. Luna and Neville you will draw the power into shields again." He turned away and began to move through the crowd.

Harry ducked his head and grinned, same old Yami.

Harry settled himself comfortably on one of the cushions, closed his eyes and emptied his mind. The tinging sensation that Harry could now associated with the earth magic rippled over his skin. Harry also realised something more, the tingling was considerably stronger here than it had been at Grimmauld Place.

Harry opened his eyes and looked around for Yami. The Shade was making his way towards him. "Yami." Harry called out, the Shade simply turned his head and paused; he was paying attention. "The magic feels different here, stronger why?"

Yami didn't say anything for a moment, he seemed surprised. "There is more earth magic here than there is in most other human dwellings. The earth magic has been drawn into spells and used to strengthen the magic within the walls of the castle. In most other places you will have to draw the earth magic to you as it exists as latent energy. Here you only have to reach out for it and it is already there. That is what makes Hogwarts so good for learning to use the earth magic."

Yami turned away and continued over to Luna and Neville who were concentrating rather hard. Harry closed his eyes again and focused for the magic again.

Harry's fingers began to tingle uncomfortably, the same as it had the last time they had practiced, it was like the magic was trying to fill him to the brim and then make him explode. Harry shifted and tried to keep his mind blank remembering what Yami had said about controlling the magic.

Harry gritted his teeth, but the tingling was became painful. Harry realised h was using all his strength to stop himself from exploding. A hand touched his wrist and the throbbing lowered to a point where it was bearable Harry opened his eyes and looked down. Yugi was standing next to him.

Harry had to admit that he felt a little resentful that he could only do this with Yugi's help.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami was watching Harry out of the corner of his eye, the human wasn't happy. He still couldn't work out how to control all the magic that he had access to.

Yami had nothing to help him with. Yami only understood the very basics of earth magic, all that was really needed for these human children. Except Neville and Luna who Yami would pass onto an elfin master as soon as he had a chance.

Even Yugi had only spent a few short lessons with the master in their village and didn't really have a full understanding of the magic so he could only help his parent to a certain degree.

Yami paced around a little and watched as some of the humans tried surreptitiously to draw the magic into a ball in front of them. A couple of them were succeeding, so Yami called a stop to the meditation.

It was time for them to try the easiest 'spell' that earth magic could construct again; a shield. None of them had come even close to managing it before the holiday and Yami wasn't totally convinced that most of them would be able to manage it now.

"You will now draw the magic into you and create a shield. Earth magic cannot be shaped by words like your magic can." Yami paused and thought about the lessons that he had spied on. What had the master suggested the children do?

"Try to visualise what you want the magic to do, for the moment think of and concentrate on a ball of power around you, a mirror that all other magic will simply bounce off of."

The humans all frowned and closed their eyes. It was odd that they all seemed to think that this would help them to concentrate. Still whatever worked. It did mean of course that their enemy could sneak up and surprise them.

To Yami's surprise several of the humans managed to work the magic into something resembling a shield. Admittedly the shield would probably collapse after the first spell, but at least it would give them a few moments to run for their lives.

Yami paced past his three humans. Ron was struggling but as Yami walked past his grip on the magic suddenly hardened and the shield formed without a crack or fault. Yami smirked, their Quidditch lessons were still fresh in Ron's head: focus you mind and ignore your emotions or get attacked by a vicious and annoyed Shade.

Hermione was funnily enough having the most trouble. She really didn't have the mindset for earth magic. She needed the bordered structure that human magic had, not the vague knowledge that was the method of working the earth magic.

Harry was still struggling to control the amount of magic he was taking in. His mind was aiming for a little, but it was taking in an ocean full.

Yami sent a query to Yugi. /Would it help him if he were not around quite so much of the magic, there is a lot in these walls?/ Yami was thinking of taking him out into the forest or to the nearby village.

Yugi made a vague shrugging gesture. /Maybe, I don't really know. He would be better off with a proper master/. Yugi gave Yami a quick look,./Not that you aren't doing well/

Yami waved aside the apology. He was aware of his level of skill with the earth magic. Most of it involved brute force and his very powerful and determined mind rather than a deep and profound knowledge of how the magic itself worked.

Yami put a stop to the lesson once Yugi started to notice that the children were getting tired. Yami was oblivious to when they needed to rest as he himself so rarely needed to, it was a good thing that Yugi paid attention.

Harry began to take over and teach them a 'shield charm'. Yami thought that was a bit of a joke, but the spell seemed to work quite well against most of the weaker human spells.

The shields had nothing on the ones made of earth magic, but then again the magic in its basic essence was weaker than the earth magic. In fact many of the humans seemed to have as much trouble with these shields as they did with the earth magic. It was suggestive.

Later into the night while the children were leaving, a couple of them even said goodbye to Yami rather than just giving him a suspicious look and bolting for the door.

Ron's twin brothers grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up which Yugi had told him meant 'good'. Yami thought it was strange, but he went with it and returned the gesture. A few of the other children looked incredibly nervous when they noticed. Yami smirked as they left the room.

Harry was sitting on a cushion. His face was pale, but his determination was giving Yami a headache. Yami stripped off the magic layers and floated comfortably in the dimmer portion of the room.

Yami waited for the three humans who were still trying to collect themselves. Yugi wandered over to him and looked into his shadows. /There are a whole heap of darkings outside the room./ He thought to Yami.

Yami reached out with his magic and caught the sensation of the darkings, Yugi was right, there were at least a hundred of them.

After a moments consideration Yami left the room and led the darkings off in a different direction to the one that the humans would be using. It wouldn't be good for the humans to think that there was another Shade within Hogwarts and there was no way he was going to explain the darkings to them.

Yami settled down and allowed the darkings to communicate to him whatever had them in a frazzle.

Apparently they had found something in the forest, something big. It had freaked them out and they had come looking for him. If Yami had been in human form he would have smacked his head against a wall.

He convinced the darkings to stay away from the big thing in the forest and to stay outside of the castle unless he called them.

This took him almost all night because they all wanted to be the three that stayed with him. Finally Yami grew impatient, he snatched the closest three darkings and threw the rest of them out of a nearby window. He listened with a sort of dark satisfaction to their anxious wails as they caught themselves and made their way back to the forest.

The noisy little shadows were worse than the children in the village. Yami grumbled his way upstairs to Yugi who was laughing at him.

Yami was willing to allow him that one, as annoying as the darkings were that emotion couldn't totally mask the feeling of relief that Yami was experiencing after the disappearance of the tainting. He felt better not having it around.

The one that remained in Harry was not nearly so frightening, masked as it was by the child's own life force. However Yami was still considering possible ways to get rid of it.

Yami and his darkings found their way into the common room and settled down in his corner. Yami considered the lessons he had been taking. About all he could keep doing was to allow the children to keep trying the shield until they had mastered it. He just didn't have the knowledge to teach them anything more complex.

* * *

_And we're back at Hogwarts; I really want to get these next few chapters out of the way because nothing really interesting is going to happen. They're important for story development, but action is a little lacking._


	25. Dating Disasters

_My comuter today decided that it was time to remind me that it is actually in control and to punish me for making it work properly for the last three months. So I hope this update works properly._

_I am proud of myself though. I've been trying to plan out this story a few chapters ahead of where I have written then yesterday I had to sit through a really long car trip, so I finished planning this story._

_Kind of exciting for me, perhaps not for you guys though. _

Chapter 25: Dating Disasters

Harry was waiting nervously in the Great Hall for Cho. He was still struggling to believe that she had agreed to come to Hogsmeade with him. Admittedly Harry did have to go and meet Hermione half way through, but he was sure that Cho would understand.

Yugi was hovering around his ankles. Harry had really wanted to leave the elf behind, but he hadn't been able to find Yami to pass Yugi on. So Yugi was coming with them. Although Harry had extracted a promise that he would hang back a bit and try not to interrupt.

"Harry." At the sound of his name Harry turned to see Cho approaching them. She was smiling at him. The smile slipped slightly as her eyes fell on Yugi, the little elf gave her a bright smile and waved.

Harry grinned at Cho awkwardly. "Sorry, I tried to find someone to look after him, but he wouldn't stay with any of them."

Cho smiled faintly. "That's alright." There was a long uncomfortable paused before she spoke again. "What does he do during Defence against the Dark Arts?"

Harry's head spun a bit. "Oh, well, Yami takes him. Yugi kind of likes him, but I couldn't find him. He usually finds me." Harry hoped he wasn't going to get into trouble for that one.

Cho smiled and leaning into Harry a little she whispered. "He scares me sometimes."

Harry gave a slightly choked laugh and threw a quick glance around the room, he was ninety-nine percent sure that Yami wasn't here. "Me to, but Yugi likes him. Then again Yugi likes everyone."

Cho laughed and they moved towards the door, Yugi followin in their wake. Harry had pre-asked him that if Yami turned up would Yugi please go and stay with the Shade instead. Yugi had agreed though a little reluctantly.

However it appeared that the Shade was not going to make an appearance, so Yugi was following them.

It was also raining and they were wading through mud.

Well Harry and Cho were, Yugi seemed to be able to skim across the top of the mud in the same way that he could walk over snow. He had also constructed a sort of magical umbrella which kept him dry. Harry and Cho just had to make do with their hoods up.

They were laughing as they walked, being soaking wet was kind of funny. Harry was mainly glad that Cho wasn't crying again.

They were just approaching Hogsmeade when Harry caught sight of a flickering shadow in the corner of his eye. He spun automatically, in time to see Yugi wandering into the tree line where Yami waited.

Yami seemed to be hovering part way between human and shadow and even from this distance Harry could see the flashing blood red of his eyes. Those eyes seemed to currently be set to blatant hatred. Harry felt a little cold.

Cho turned to see what he was staring at, but elf and Shade were gone, fading into the dim light beneath the trees.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami hated the rain. It was a Shade thing. Normally when it started raining a Shade would abandon whatever it was he was doing and find somewhere to hide. Houses were good, caves were nice too, but if all you had was a hollow log you went with it because the rain sucked.

But was Yami hiding in a nice warm room with a fire and lots of shadows. No he was out in the middle of a damn rainstorm soaked to his centre because Yugi couldn't make a rain shield large enough to cover him and the elf wanted to watch the rest of his parent's date. Unfortunately Harry didn't want Yugi around during the date and so Yam was forced to trail after the inquisitive youngster, in the rain.

Yami had no interest at all in human mating rituals, he found them boring and tedious. Yugi found them fascinating. Typical. So Yami was forced to follow the human around. Admittedly the fact that both of them were terrified of each other made things slightly more interesting. Not enough to make Yami happy about being out in the wet though.

They wound their way through the village. Yami allowed Yugi to wander a little further from him than he normally would have done, mainly because Yami was on the lookout for anywhere dry that he could stay for a few moments.

By the time the awkward human pair had made it to a building that was all done up like the office Yami had destroyed, and his spell was still destroying; Yami was actually dripping water and ready to kill something.

Yugi peeked into the building before shaking his head and making his way towards another building where there was a large gathering of humans. /I'm going inside, Hermione is there and I can sit with her, are you going to go back to the castle or are you going to stay here?/

Going back to the castle was tempting, but it would mean staying out in the rain even longer. Going in with Yugi would mean the opportunity to get at least a little dry and give the rain a chance to stop. /I will stay with you/. Yami said and slid behind the building to take human form and apply Yugi's colouring spells.

Yami and Yugi then headed into what Yami realised was a tavern.

Yugi stayed close, people got out of the way for Yami and it was easier than trying to get their attention. Unfortunately Yami couldn't see over anyone, so he had no idea where Hermione was.

Yami sent out his three darkings which had been hidden in the pockets of his jacket. They poked their way through the room, almost invisible in the bright surroundings and directed him to where Hermione was sitting with Luna and a human adult Yami didn't know.

The two of them approached the little gathering warily and waited for Hermione to notice them. Yami had avoided dealing with the adult wizards they were more likely to recognise him than the younger and less experienced students were.

It took Hermione a moment and Yami could see that she wasn't happy, but none the less she motioned for hem to sit. The adult gave him a slightly curious look which Yami returned with a blank stare.

Apparently he wasn't all that interesting because she went back to talking with Hermione.

Yami was paying no attention, the cheery atmosphere in the room was making him a little queasy, but at least it was warm and dry, especially dry. Yami didn't mind the cold, snow was really alright so long as it didn't melt.

Yami had more than once considered relocating and establishing a territory back in the human country of Egypt. It had only rained there twice in Yami's lifetime. Wonderful climate.

Yugi poked him in the side and Yami's attention snapped back to Hermione who was asking him if he wanted anything to drink. It took him a few moments to realise exactly what it was she was asking.

Yami refused. He didn't drink, or eat for that matter. It was too awkward trying to get rid of the material he took in without seeming silly or disgusting.

Yugi pointed to something on a piece of paper and Hermione spoke to a human woman who immediately bustled away. Yami watched her movements with interest. The way she walked drew the attention of every male in the room. Yami knew that he couldn't pull that sort of move off though. He guessed that you would have to be female to do it.

He'd tried a female form once. Horrifically uncomfortable, too much space in all the wrong areas.

Yami had to admit that the generalised nervousness of the adult human sitting opposite him was nice, a sort of starter course. It would have been better if Yami had been getting a main, but that was out of the question.

Yami tried not to pout, humans were no fun when you had to play nice.

Hermione looked up and began to motion frantically. Yami didn't have to turn to know it was Harry, the misery which Yami was sensing had become very familiar. Harry may be able to see where Yami was hiding, but Yami could sense Harry coming. His emotions were becoming more and more familiar to the Shade.

Harry sat down. Apparently his date hadn't gone well. Yami smirked; he couldn't help himself.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry had been very surprised to find a rather bedraggled looking Yami and a suspiciously dry Yugi seated with Hermione, Luna and of all people Rita Skeeter.

Rita was sitting opposite Yami and was unconsciously leaning away from him. Yami was smirking at Harry. At a guess Harry would say that the Shade knew that his date hadn't gone well.

Yugi gave him a sympathetic smile and wriggled over. Harry picked up the elf and sat him on his lap. There wasn't really enough space for them all at the little booth.

The seating arrangements left Harry sitting next to Yami. Harry didn't think it would be any different from being around him normally, but the close proximity to the Shade made all the hairs on Harry's arm stand on end. It wasn't painful, but it was certainly strange.

"It's raining." Harry noted slyly to Yami.

The Shade gave him another look of blank hatred and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "God damn rain." He was wearing his leather and despite this was dripping a small puddle on the ground under his seat.

Rita leaned forwards to look at Yugi. "We have been busy Harry dear, mind telling me who the mother is?" Her hand was already reaching for her purse and the Quill within.

"No idea. He's a elf, I'm just taking care of him." Harry had no idea what this whole meeting was about, but he was going to cut that rumour down before it even started.

Rita's eyes flicked to Yami and then away. Yami wasn't the kind of guy you asked questions about, especially when he looked as vicious as he did currently. A vicious drowned rat. Harry bit back a smile, he would be in trouble if Yami thought he was being laughed at.

Hermione coughed and cut in. "Rita is going to write an article about you Harry." Harry opened his mouth to complain, but his friend barrelled on and cut him off.

"She is going to write the real version of Voldemort's return and Luna's father is going to publish it."

Rita didn't look overly happy about this. Harry guessed going from writing for the Daily Prophet to the Quibbler was a bit of a step downwards.

Harry wasn't sure how happy he felt about it either. He had only talked over Voldemort's return with Ron and Hermione in any great detail. Rita peered at him through her glasses and pulled out her Quick Quotes Quill.

Harry bit his lip and glanced over at Yami. "Could you take Yugi out of here?" He asked. Harry didn't think that Yugi should hear about some of these things.

Yami's coloured eyes flickered down to the elf in Harry's lap. Yugi grabbed fistfuls of Harry's clothes and sent a pleading stare up to Yami. Yami looked back at Harry and shook his head. Harry wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't looked quite so smug about it.

"Fine." Harry steeled himself resettled Yugi, more for something to do with his hands and met Rita's eyes. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

_The big moan is all me, I hate the rain. I like stupidly hot, 40 degrees in the shade, flies everywhere kind of days. Good thing I live in Australia, eh. _

_This is probably the reason Yami hates the rain, there is really no other reason. Although personally I like the image, mmm soaking wet Yami._


	26. The Next Game

Chapter 26: The Next Game

Harry was making his was down to the Quidditch pitch, Yugi balanced on one hip to prevent him from being crushed in the crowd. Hermione was walking on his left and Yami was on his right.

Harry wasn't happy. He wanted to be out there in the middle of the game. Instead he had to watch and from the reports of those who had watched the training session last weekend, namely Fred and George, Gryffindor was going to get thrashed.

The only good thing that they had to report was that Ron seemed to have improved beyond understanding. In fact his brothers seemed moderately confident that he would at least be able to save a few goals. Ron had gone down to the pitch earlier looking pale, but determined.

The pitch was packed. Harry, Hermione and Yami joined the red and gold mass. Harry had talked with Yami that morning suggesting that the Shade wear something red and gold to try and blend in better, seeing as his robe wasn't a Hogwarts one.

The Shade had then done something that was, in Harry's eyes, very creepy. Yami had reached out and grabbed hold of Harry's scarf. His hand had partially dissolved and filtered through the scarf until the whole thing was covered. Yami had then sat back and his body had rippled and shifted before their eyes, reforming into Yami now wearing a scarf that was the exact twin of Harry's.

Harry had been too unnerved to make much of a comment, Yami had seemed pleased.

With his short stature and impossibly coloured hair Yami still drew attention, but fortunately most people were more focused on the impending game than on the stranger in their midst. Those members of the DA who saw him gave Yami slight smiles and nods and Harry was heartened a little. At least they weren't all still terrified of him.

Harry leant forwards as the teams made their way onto the field. Harry picked out Ron. His friend still seemed very pale, but he looked a little more confident than he had at the last game. Yami's coloured eyes were flickering around the field taking in everything at once.

Harry had never been in the crowd for a school Quidditch match which involved Gryffindor and he wasn't all that sure that he liked it. He really wanted to be out there playing, his team needed him.

Harry hadn't had a chance to watch Ron during practices, but even as he watched his friend shoot up to hover around the goal posts he could see that Ron was more confident than he had been during the one game Harry had played with him.

The Slytherin's were already yelling out 'Weasley is our King'. Ron glared at them, but didn't respond.

Yugi wriggled around in Harry's arms and leant forwards to get a better look. He seemed happier now that it wasn't Harry out there flying around.

Harry breathed a little easier as the game went along. The two new Beaters were useless and Ginny wasn't quite as good a Seeker as he was, but the twins had been right, Ron had improved immensely. After Ron missed a few goals right at the beginning of the game, resulting in joyful cheers from the Slytherins, he seemed to set his teeth and started catching the Quaffle effortlessly.

Half way through the game Hermione made a very strange discovery. "Is he playing with his eyes closed?" She asked, peering at Ron through her binoculars. Harry squinted in the direction of the goal hoops. Hermione was right, Ron was playing with his eyes closed.

Yami chuckled softly and when Harry glanced over at the Shade he looked like he knew exactly what was going on.

Harry wasn't about to ask what had happened, but whatever it was he was glad. The chorus of singing from the Slytherins was dying off as Ron saved goal after goal.

By the time Ginny managed to snag the Snitch Ron had only allowed two more goals in. Gryffindor had won!

Harry cheered as the teams dropped back to the ground.

Yami hummed thoughtfully. "I liked the ending to the other game better." He noted. Harry wasn't surprised, this one had ended with a few upset people rather than an outright furious brawl.

Yami shrugged and turned to leave. He had to go before anyone else noticed him, the school wasn't really big enough that you wouldn't recognise someone as memorable as Yami. Harry shifted Yugi around on his hip and hurried off with Hermione to go meet Ron and congratulate him.

Ron was practically glowing with pride as the Gryffindors gathered around him and clapped him on the shoulder. Harry did the same. "Wow Ron you must have been practicing hard, you played really well."

Ron grinned. "Yeah well I had a bit of help you know." His eyes flickered to Yugi and then around the room. Harry recognised the look, it was the same one that he used when he was looking around to see if Yami was nearby.

Harry was confused. Yami had helped Ron get better at Quiddtich? Yugi gave him a satisfied smile and when Harry backed out of everyone's hearing the elf spoke. "If anyone can help you get over fear it is Yami, don't you think?"

"Why?" Harry asked, that was what was confusing him the most.

Yugi just smiled. "Does it matter?" He asked.

Then Ron and Hermione joined them along with half the Gryffindor team and Yugi fell silent, still smiling happily.

The rest of the day passed cheerfully. Ron talked non-stop about the game. Harry only half listened, he was still trying to plough through all the work that had been set. Ron didn't seem to notice and Harry let him keep going, he was happy enough that Gryffindor was still in the running for the Cup.

Harry was sitting at breakfast the next morning when the first owl arrived.

It was rapidly followed by eight more, and another six after that. Harry stared around at them all. There were owls everywhere and people were staring. One owl had even perched on top of Yugi's head. Yugi removed the letter attached to its leg and opened it, read it and handed it over to Harry.

It was a letter from someone who said that they had read Harry's interview with the Quibbler and that they now believed that he was telling the truth.

Harry gaped at it and Hermione gave a happy laugh and thrust a package into his hands. "It's the Quibbler with your interview and this is the response." She waved her hands around at the flock of owls, more of which were now descending on the Gryffindor table.

Harry ripped the paper off the magazine and was met with his own face on the front cover. Harry looked over at the owls. Ron, Hermione, Fred and George were removing letters from owls and reading them aloud. Most of them thought he was barmy, but there were quite a few who wrote to tell him that they were behind him. Harry's heart lifted. Yugi was laughing as owls sailed over his head, letters were still arriving.

"What is this Mr Potter?" Umbridge had appeared behind him with an unpleasant smile on her face.

Harry turned to her with absolute determination. There was nothing she could do now.

"Reading my mail Professor." Harry met her eyes without fear, daring her to do something.

Umbridge's eyes turned to the magazine in Harry's hand before she snatched it off him. Harry didn't blink, he just waited and watched as Umbridge's face went red, then purple with fury.

"A week's worth of detentions Potter." She snapped at him and stalked off. Harry grinned at her back. It was worth the detentions to see the look of fury on her face.

Yugi was singing again, Harry wondered what it was about because he couldn't see Yami anywhere.

People were whispering in corners all day despite the ban that Umbridge had placed upon the Quibbler. In fact her banning it seemed to have resulted in everyone going out and making the effort to get themselves a copy of his interview.

Harry couldn't help but notice that more and more people were giving him knowledgeable smiles as he passed them in the corridors. Some people were even approaching him and informing him that they believed him now.

Yugi was practically bursting with pride and spent most of the day trotting ahead of the three of them, smiling at people broadly.

The only downside was the fact that Harry now had a week's worth of detentions with Umbridge and he had noticed that anyone who had had a detention with her was now nursing cuts on their hands. Apparently she had found a new set of quills.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami crept up to the adult females office. Yugi had informed him that Harry would be spending more nights with her and he wanted Yami to stop those quills from working again. Yami was a little annoyed that she hadn't kept the old ones Yami had already tampered with. Still he thought that one more box of quills which wrote all over her body would probably stop her from using them ever again. Then Yami could get on with life.

She wasn't in the room when he arrived and the spells which prevented the students from entering were hardly effective against him at all. Yami left two of his darkings outside to keep watch and prowled through the human's things to find the box of quills.

Tampering with the magic was the work of a moment and he was back out into the hall again, his shadows flowing their way back to the common room.

It was later in the night when Yami felt another flare of that killing pleasure. It was similar to what he had sensed the night Harry had dreamed of the attack on Ron's parent.

Yami made his way upstairs as Yugi called to him along their bond. Harry was only twitching on his bed this time. Yugi was sitting next to Harry, his stuffed bear gripped in his arms eyes full of tears.

Yami leant closer, the sensations were energy rich and Yami was still a little thin from all his exertions in the holidays. Then Harry jerked awake. "No." He cried out in surprise.

"What?" Ron called out from behind them. Yami had only vaguely noticed the human coming into the room and Ron hadn't seen him at all as Yami was still in his shadow form.

Ron wrestled with Harry to try and untangle him from the sheets. Yugi was making distressed noises so Yami moved closer to him to try and offer some comfort. But Yugi crawled into Harry's lap and curled up in a ball.

Yami felt an odd stabbing in his centre and he drew away.

Harry was gasping in horror and shaking he pressed one hand to the scar on his forehead, the other wrapped around Yugi.

"Voldemort was...Rookwood and Avery, something about not being able to get it. Ron it has to be the weapon." Harry stammered out, then his eyes flickered up to Yami. For a moment he seemed to argue with himself and then he nodded. "Yami can I ask you something?"

Yami thought that was a stupid statement, but he drew into human form and sat on the edge of the bed. Yugi had recovered from his fright and wriggled over the rumpled sheets to sit on Yami's lap instead.

Yami smiled a little, that was better. "What is your question?" He asked Harry.

"Well Voldemort has red eyes, I was wondering if he was something like a Shade, or he was turning into one...or...something." Harry was forced to trail off as Yami's eyes flashed with his fury. He dared to suggest that the non-human was Shade, was even related to his race.

Yugi hummed softly, begging him to not lose his temper. Yami growled and looked away from Harry, trying to get himself back under control. It took him a few minutes and wasn't helped by the fear the two humans were feeling.

"He is nothing like a Shade, we are as we are because that is how we are created. Your Voldemort is hollow and empty and dead. The colouring of his eyes is related to the damage he has done to his own soul." Yami snapped.

Harry was staring at him in amazement. "What do you mean, damaged his soul?"

Yami shrugged. He and Yugi had decided that it was probably best that their humans were not made aware of Yami's past involvement with the non-human. However it would be alright if they assumed that Yami had simply encountered him. "I have encountered the human that you call Voldemort. His soul has been torn, shredded and damaged beyond repair. I do not know how or why he has done this, but many of the changes that you have noticed may be due to this."

Harry nodded slowly obviously thinking hard. A twitch on the edge of Yami's immediate sense alerted him to other humans heading for the dorms. Yami dissolved into his shadows and flowed off the bed where the light was brightest. Harry and Ron both jerked in surprise and Harry's eyes followed him.

Yami resettled back in his corner down in the common room. So Voldemort was trying to obtain a weapon? Yami wondered what it was and whether or not he would be able to foil the plan from here. His darkings skittered playfully over the stone walls. Now there was a thought.

Yami called to the darkings in the grounds. He had to move out of the common room to an unused classroom as there were now nearly a thousand darkings gathered around him. He explained what he wanted, for them to find and follow these Members of the Order and to determine what and where this weapon was.

When the darkings had been dispatched Yami returned to the now dark common room to wait, feeling a little like a spider in its web.

* * *

_Well things are not moving much, but there is some really important information coming through._

_I hope you're picking up on it, though it should suddenly dawn on you when you read the bits that will eventually come up what I was talking about way back here._


	27. Dumbledore's Army

_This chapter is for 777angeloflove, who has reviewed almost every chapter of this story, bolstered my confidence and has given me a hand making a couple of tough decisions. _

_And hey, we have action, finally! Thanks again!_

Chapter 27: Dumbledore's Army

Harry dragged his feet down the corridor towards Umbridge's office, he had the first of his detentions and he knew that Umbridge was going to be in a really nasty mood. With Dumbledore foiling her plan to fire and replace Trelawney she was going to take all her anger out on him tonight. Harry didn't think he was going to be able to rely on a magically backfiring quill to save him.

He knocked resolutely on the door to Umbridge's new office. When he was called to enter he found her sitting at her desk smiling sweetly at him. A piece of parchment and the familiar black quill were positioned on a table pulled up to the desk where Umbridge was seated blending in with the pink frills behind her.

Harry slid into his seat and picked up the quill. "What am I writing this time Professor?" He asked, not even bothering to be polite.

"The same line Mr. Potter, since it obviously still hasn't sunk in." Umbridge sat and watched him as he began to write.

Once again Harry waited for that searing pain to press through his hand, but it never came. He had finished one line, the quill was writing in blood, but in the same way as it had been last time, it was not writing in his blood.

Harry wrote another line and chanced a look at Umbridge she was scratching at her arm, then her side. Harry began to write faster. This was too good to be true, but his suspicions were up. This wasn't a coincidence and Harry only knew one person who could mess with magic like this.

Umbridge jerked around and snatched the quill from his hands. "You will use your own quill for tonight." She then grabbed her wand and began to mutter over the quill.

Harry pulled out a quill and ink bottle and began to write.

When Umbridge told him to go Harry tried to keep his face neutral as he packed up his bag. Finally as he exited the room he allowed himself to smile, although he felt like laughing. He glanced around. The hallway was too dark for him to pick out an individual group of shadows. "Yami." Harry called and the shadows off to his left whirled and drew together as Yami walked towards him, flashing white teeth in a broad grin.

"It was you, you spelled the quills." Harry accused, though his tone was overjoyed.

Yami smirked and shrugged. "Yugi asked me to do something and her outrage was rather entertaining."

"Nice work." Harry cackled and he and the Shade began to make their way towards the common room.

After a few minutes of silence Harry decided that Yami's good mood was enough for him to dare another question. "Yami, when did you run into Voldemort?"

Yami turned his head slightly and his gleaming red eyes did that same trick of pulling in all the light around them. "Long before I was bound to Yugi, during the time that you humans consider him to have been at the height of his power."

Harry nodded, "Have you got any ideas about what he did to his soul."

"I have said that I do not, it is a magic beyond even that of Shade magic which is considered to be the darkest of all." Yami's head tilted in thought. "Perhaps it would be best if you did not pursue the idea."

Harry frowned they were nearly at the portrait and he knew that Yami would disappear again when they reached it. "Maybe that's the key to beating him." He mused.

Yami shrugged and his form began to dissolve. "Perhaps."

Harry stepped into the nearly empty common room. He still had work to do, but the conversation with Yami made him want to think.

Yami confused him. Most of the time he acted as Harry had come to expect a Shade to act, cold and callous as though he didn't care one bit about what happened to the humans around him. But then other times, like tonight, he seemed to actually care for Harry's safety and well being. It was strange and Harry didn't know what to make of it. Nonetheless having his help would be perfect next time Harry had to face Voldemort.

* * *

The next DA lesson had to wait until the next week came around as Harry was busy every night writing lines for Umbridge. Though she had finally given up on using her black quills it was still incredibly boring and painful. Still it gave Harry time to think.

They were heading down to the Room of Requirement for the DA the first chance they had after Harry's detentions had finished. Harry was intending to start teaching Patronus' and both Hermione and Ron were twitching with excitement.

Yami was walking with them and Yugi was sitting on Ron's shoulders singing softly.

This brought to mind something else that Harry had wanted to ask Yami. "How do you know what Yugi means when he is singing?"

Yami turned his head. Harry noticed that when the colouring spells were there his eyes didn't seem to become that fixed point of darkness. "It is the elfin language. It took me some time to learn it, but it is a language that he is comfortable using around other humans."

Ron rolled his eyes up. "So what are you saying?" He asked the elf. Yugi giggled and shook his head.

Yami translated, "Nothing, it is just a nonsense song to teach children to speak."

Harry walked past the room three times and called up the door they needed. They were only just on time now and as Harry checked the Marauder's Map he could see that everyone was almost there.

The number of people coming to the sessions had increased greatly since the Quibbler interview had been published. This had made Harry's heart leap and had sent Yami into a grumble as he now had to balance his lessons between those who had been practicing and could now produce a shield which would stand up to a few spells and those who had only just arrived and didn't even know what earth magic was.

Harry sat down as people began to come in. The DA veterans on seeing Yami took a cushion and immediately began to meditate. Something that Yami insisted that they still do before they began to practice. While the newer members all milled around in confusion until someone told them what to do or Yami growled at them. Harry was getting a little tired of explaining about Yami being the 'Spirit of Hogwarts' and had asked that anyone who invited someone else to the DA explained beforehand.

Harry was finally making way with the earth magic. It had taken him this long, but he could finally control and regulate the amount of magic that he was actually taking in. He still needed Yugi's help if he wanted to do anything with the magic, but hey progress was progress right?

There were a few more new faces here today and Harry could hardly contain his excitement. This unfortunately made it very hard to mediate. Yami seeing this walked past him and flicked him on the ear. It was a gentle movement considering that on anyone else he would have wacked them on the back of the head, but none the less it left Harry's ear throbbing.

Harry tried harder to pay attention as several of the others, Ron included got to their feet and started practicing shielding. One would try and jinx their opponent while the other would try and hold their shield in place. Some of the first years who had shown up for the first time were watching avidly, at least until Yami walked past and told them to close their eyes.

Harry was almost certain that there had been an 'or else I'll...' attached to the end of the suggestion, but he was too far away to hear it.

Harry quickly blanked his mind and scrambled to his feet pulling in a little earth magic, as much as he could estimate that Ron was using.

Now came the tricky part. Harry felt the familiar tingling and imagined it was forming a bubble around him. The tingling shifted and then it twitched. Harry focused his mind on the image of the bubble with him standing in the middle. Another shift. Something was definitely happening, but he didn't dare open his eyes in case he distracted himself.

There was a loud bang and a heavy thud. Harry opened his eyes to watch Ron do another summersault as the jinx he had aimed at Neville backfired.

Harry grinned and then frowned as he realised that his vision was slightly impaired by a glowing sheet in front of him.

Yami walked past and nodded approvingly. "About time." He said and turned to watch Ron pick himself up. Harry blinked in momentary confusion and then he grinned. He had finally done it. He'd made a shield. Harry quickly looked down to see if Yugi was standing next to him helping, but the elf was seated nearby applauding happily.

Harry grinned it was so easy now he knew how. Harry looked around to see if there was anyone he could go up against. Luna gave him a vague smile, her shield was so strong that Harry could hardly see her through it, but he did see her pulling out her wand.

Harry grabbed his own.

"Stupefy." She said softly.

The red spell shot out from behind her shield and slammed into his. Harry felt as though someone was draining all his energy out, his shield disappeared and Harry swayed groggily.

A hand grabbed his arm and Harry turned his head to see Yami supporting him, once again something that the Shade would not do for anyone else.

"Do not get over confident. You have managed the spell yes, but you are far from mastering it. You must be more specific with the magic." Yami paused and considered something then went on raising his voice slightly making everyone turn and listen. "The shields have been weakening you whenever a spell hits them have they not." Those who had been able to form a shield nodded.

Yami considered that before he nodded himself. "When you create the shield you need to know exactly what it is that you want the shield to do with the magic that hits it. If you do not specify then the magic will simply try and stop the spell straight on, a sort of default setting."

"That is very energy consuming. A better idea is to create a mirror shield with it so that any spell which hits the shield will reflect back at the person who cast it. You can also call a shield so that any spell which encounters it will be woven into it. This is very difficult and requires more concentration, but it will allow your shield to last longer as you can use the energy of the spells to hold it in place.'

Everyone nodded and began to try. Harry found it even more difficult and he still hadn't managed to change his shield when Yami glanced at him and said. "I think that is enough for tonight. You may take over."

Harry nodded and took a deep breath steadying himself. "Right everyone Patronus' as promised."

People were smiling excitedly as Harry demonstrated and then explained how to produce them. As he walked around the room watching in satisfaction as people began to produce clouds of silvery mist Harry noticed that Yami was looking a little annoyed.

Harry headed over. "So I guess Patronus's affect you too?"

Yami gave him a slightly scathing look. "A dementor will be opposed by one of these as there are no dark emotions for them to latch onto to feed. The lack of the darker emotions is nothing to me, but the overemphasis on the happiness is slightly grating."

Harry grinned and shifted over to correct a first year's pronunciation. Yugi was playing with Hermione's otter. The elf liked the silver animals and they seemed to be attracted to him.

By half way through the lesson several people had been able to produce animal shaped patronus'. Then everything went very wrong.

The door to the room exploded inwards and Dobby stumbled in, his movements slightly impaired by the numerous layers of socks and the stack of hats on his head. "Harry Potter sir, Harry Potter sir." He babbled, gancing around the room in search of Harry.

Dobby suddenly dashed towards the wall but Yami had apparently divined this move and got in the way catching the startled elf in his arms.

Dobby went deathly pale at the sight of the slim Shade, somehow he seemed to know knew exactly what Yami was. Then Yugi made a quick anxious noise from where he was standing at Yami's side.

Dobby pushed away from Yami and glanced back at Harry. "Harry Potter sir, she is coming, she knows."

Harry's heart stopped beating. "Umbridge knows."

Dobby nodded, seemed to think about hitting himself with something, looked at Yami and managed to make himself stop.

Harry took a couple of very deep breaths then he looked around at all the people. "What are you waiting for?" Harry yelled, "Run for it."

Everyone scattered, trying to cram themselves out of the door Harry closed his eyes and begged the room for a second way out. Another door appeared in the wall next to the first door.

Harry looked around in the rush for Yugi and a hand touched his shoulder.

"You should leave Harry, I will care for Yugi." Yami's deep voice was calm, the colouring spells were gone and his eerie red eyes showed excitement. Yugi sat on his hip bright purple eyes serious, making motions for Harry to run.

Harry took a deep breath and nodded. He ran from the Room. His last sight of the pair was both of them vanishing into Yami's shadows.

Harry fled around the corner and ran straight into the arms of Umbridge. "Got you." She laughed.

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Yami drew back, and watched as Harry was caught by the adult wizards. Yugi twitched uncomfortably. He was not at ease carried within Yami's shadows, especially when his parent was in danger. Yami followed at a safe distance. Most of the other human children were escaping with Yugi and his darking's help Yami created distractions for those others who were still running.

The adult female was dragging Harry with her. They were heading into the one area that Yami was yet to explore. The adult wizard who dwelt here was powerful and knowledgeable enough to detect him so Yami gave him a wide berth.

That wizard waited in the room as many others joined him. Every instinct in the Shade was telling him to leave, though Yami knew this was the spells on the room, enhanced and powered by earth magic.

Then the old wizard's eyes caught him. Yami froze, but the wizard simply shifted and nodded his old head faintly. Yami only just caught the thought that was sent his way, /Please protect them, with everything you can/. He shifted in confusion, the old wizard wanted a Shade to protect his young?

He puzzled over this as the humans spoke, Harry was glancing around the room cautiously, trying to see if he was there. Yugi gave him a mental poke and Yami shifted around the room carefully to where Harry would be able to see him. He allowed his red eyes to show for a moment to draw Harry's eyes.

The reaction was immediate. The boy relaxed and turned his attention to the conversation. Yami shifted faintly, Harry seemed to have this belief that Yami would be able to or willing to stop whatever was going on here. The old wizard and the other humans were arguing about the lessons which Harry had been teaching, trying to determine who had begun them and when.

Thankfully Yami and his lessons were not mentioned. The other humans began to move forwards. Suddenly there was a flash of human magic strangely twined with earth magic and the room filled with dust.

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Harry looked up. Kingsley and the other Auror were unconscious along with the Minister and Umbridge. McGonagall had forced him and Marietta to the floor. Dumbledore was stepping through the rubble of his office. However his eyes were watching the corner where Harry had seen Yami's eyes appear. "You may reveal yourself now, we will not offer you harm." He said.

There was a long pause before the slightly darker patch of Yami's shadows drew together and his small lean form picked its way across the debris scatter across the floor with Yugi following close behind him. The Shade was focused not on them, but on Fawkes sailing overhead, singing sweetly.

Yami's human lips were twisted in a look of disgust. The illusion that gave him human form flickered and twitched, shadows detached and folded back around him. The phoenix began to sing louder, the notes forming an almost physical barrier with each wave slamming into the Shade.

Yami hissed and his own magic in the form of thick shadows rippled and lashed out at the bird. Harry ducked as two magic's which were equal and opposite wrestled with each other. Yugi was shrilling, his hands held over his head to protect himself. Neither creature paid him any attention.

Dumbledore raised his wand and sent a spell between them. The barrier buckled, but held and for the first time Harry sensed something different in Dumbledore's spell. It was like the magic had something extra in it.

Before he could work out exactly what it was Shade and phoenix stopped. Fawkes sailed down and perched on the back of Dumbledore's chair, Yami rose from his crouch and looked back at Yugi. The elf was glaring at him, not happy.

Yami seemed to take a few moments to compose himself. His hands moved in gentle smoothing motions down his body, but instead of removing wrinkles he seemed to be tucking his shadows back under the illusion. When he had finished he turned to Dumbledore.

"How is it you are aware of my presence here?" Yami asked. As usual his accented voice was slightly stilted, though to Harry it seemed even more so than normal.

Dumbledore smiled gently, lowering his wand. "The anti-Shade spells on the castle alerted me the instant you crossed them, however things were then interrupted by Yugi's arrival. When you left and then returned, I assumed that you were following him and when you offered no harm to the students I allowed you to remain."

Yami's head tilted faintly. "Allowed?" The question held amusement and Harry blinked in confusion. "Do not so overestimate your powers human, you are strong, but there is little you could have done to remove me." The room darkened faintly and Harry shivered. McGonagall shuddered and fingered her wand, pulling Marietta closer to her.

"I have no quarrel with you, but I do ask that you protect my students. Will you do that?" Dumbledore had put his wand away, but Yami's tone had made Fawkes lift his wings and sing a single clear note.

Yami hissed in response. "I have no requirement to protect any of these young other than Harry." Yami said. Then in a flash he glanced down. Yugi had a hand on his leg and was looking up pleadingly. Something seemed to pass between the two of them before Yami shook his head firmly. Yugi sighed and nodded and Yami lifted his head. "There is no arguing about it." This actually seemed to be more directed at Yugi and the little elf crossed his eyes at his guardian.

Dumblesore smiled. "Well if you will not do that perhaps you will do one thing for me? Your magic is obviously considerably stronger than mine, Serverus was finally able to remove the decorations to the Slytherin common room and dorms, only to find that everything underneath is still red and gold. I personally cannot see any difference, but it is distressing the students would you be so kind as to remove whatever spell you placed on it."

Yami watched him silently before he replied. "It would be best if you leave now, they are waking up." Yugi was lifted into the shadows and they flowed out of the window.

The people on the floor began to stir, moaning softly. Dumbledore nodded and glanced over his shoulder at Fawkes who sailed closer. "Stay safe Harry. Minerva look after the students." Professor McGonagall nodded, but she still looked very unnerved.

Dumbledore raised his hands and grasped one of Fawkes' tail feathers and the phoenix disappeared in a flash of flame.

As Fudge and his cronies stumbled to their feet they began to look around. "Where has he gone?" Fudge turned his head and tripped on a fallen table, Kingsley caught him and set him back on his feet.

"He must have gone this way." The other Auror said and dashed out of the door, followed by everyone else. McGonagall pushed Harry gently from behind. "Back to your dorms please, both of you." She gave Harry a warning and slightly alarmed glance before hurrying off after the Minister.

Harry trudged back to the common room. Halfway there he was met by Yugi, who informed him that Yami was watching the Minister and Umbridge.

"Well I guess that's it, no more DA." Harry sighed as they walked.

"Why can't you continue?" Yugi asked.

"Now that Dumbledore's gone we'll be bombarded with rules. We won't even be able to sneeze without Umbridge's permission."

Yugi frowned and nodded. Then suddenly he looked frightened. "Professor McGonagall won't tell anyone about Yami will she?"

Harry started, he hadn't even thought about that. "I don't know, but next time I see her I'll ask her to keep it quiet."

Yugi nodded, "Thank you, I don't know what he would do if the teachers tried to get rid of him."

Harry shuddered at the thought and muttered the password to get into the common room.

* * *

_Yay things are finally moving along._

_Keep the reviews coming I love hearing from you all._


	28. Umbridge's First Day

_FireHeart21 - In reply to your review, and sort of hoping that you are reading this chapter, the occlumency lessons have sort of been replaced with the earth magic. You are right, in this case they are unnecessary to my story._

Chapter 28: Umbridge's First Day

By the next day everyone in the school knew that Umbridge had replaced Dumbledore as Hogwart's head. This shared knowledge was to be expected as huge signs had appeared in the common rooms announcing the change.

Everyone also knew that Dumbledore had escaped being captured by two Aurors, the Minister and Umbridge. Harry wasn't exactly sure how everyone knew this, but he suspected that McGonagall had something to do with it.

He had finally managed to fall behind after a Transfiguration lesson to pass on Yugi's plea to her. Harry's stern faced teacher had shuddered slightly, but had promised not to mention Yami to anyone.

They were in Herbology re-potting fanged geraniums. Yugi seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, he was singing to the pair of the plants Harry had already potted.

As Professor Sprout bustled past she noticed and was about to say something, that was until she realised as Harry had done that the plants were swaying in time to Yugi's song. She closed her mouth, gave Harry a confused smile and hurried past.

After Herbology Harry hoisted Yugi onto his hip, his bag swinging from his other shoulder. He had long since learnt to balance himself with elf and bag. Strangely some of the girls seemed to find this incredibly attractive, Harry was often stared at and girls giggled and whispered as he passed.

Yami found this immensely entertaining. The Shade's soft laughter followed Harry down hallways, to a point where people began to look around for the source of the sound.

Hermione and Ron were walking with Harry this time, and they were discussing Umbridge. Hermione was in the process of saying some rather degrading things about her when Malfoy stepped out from behind a pillar frame as alwas by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well well, what have we here?" Malfoy sneered. "Talking out against our new Headmistress Granger, I'll have to take points off for that."

Hermione looked outraged, "You can't take points off, only teachers can do that."

'Inquisitorial Squad members can as well mud-blood, so I think ten points each for bad mouthing the Headmistress, and another ten for being a mud-blood." Crabbe and Goyle smirked at each other while Malfoy grinned.

Yugi made a soft noise and looked up at Malfoy, his eyes were slightly pleading totally unthreatening. Malfoy's eyes flickered down to Yugi, he looked a little crazed.

Then Malfoy sneered, "There's nothing you can do about this you freaky midget." Harry felt his blood boil in fury, a strange tingling started up behind his eyes and out of the corner of his eye he could see Yami's shadows seething. Both of them were held in place only by the raw power of Yugi determination.

Revenge would come if and when Yugi wanted it and only then.

Malfoy snickered and pushed past them. Harry glared at his back and led Hermione and a brick red Ron through the entrance Hall where they were met by Fred and George. The twins looked like they were planning something.

"What are you two up to now?" Hermione asked.

They exchanged a look and grinned, "Something extra special to welcome our new Headmistress. We figure she deserves a bit of chaos and who better to give it to her." Fred said smiling. "Best get to lunch though, so she can see that you've got nothing to do with it."

Both of them sauntered off smirking. Harry looked at Ron and the two of them grabbed Hermione by the hands and dragged her into the Great Hall. Whatever the twins were planning it was going to be good.

OOOOOOOO  
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Yami, upon hearing that the twins were planning retribution against the female called Umbridge, set out to find her.

From what he had seen and experienced with these two he figured that this would be entertaining. But there was no point in following the twins, much better to go and find the adult and follow her around, it was her that this would be affecting the most.

Yami had just managed to locate her sitting in her new office. Her old one was still exploding when she went in there. Moments after Yami settled in to watch her the school was rocked with a great big, double layered explosion. In addition to the physical bang Yami was also able to sense a sudden surge of wizarding magic.

Umbridge looked up with alarm all over her face and she shot out of the room, her hand clutched around her wand.

A large group of sparking, fiery something's were smashing around the Great Hall and down the corridors. Outrage surged off the teacher, with wave upon wave of amusement from the students who were ducking as the fireworks shot over their heads.

Umbridge waved her wand and sent a spell at the nearest wheel of lights. As soon as the spell hit, the wheel exploded. Yami got out of the way and in doing so ran into Harry and the twins. The three of them were laughing in delight. Yami could help but like that. The fury of the woman behind them, now smoking slightly, was wonderful.

"I hope she tries to vanish them next, they multiply by ten every time you try." One of the twins said between laughs. An idea sprung into Yami's head.

Harry hadn't noticed him, so Yami slid out and went towards the adult female and the non-magical human who were still trying to get rid of the fireworks.

Yami poked through the magic in the walls and found a strand of dragon magic. He pulled a little of those energies out and gathered them into a ball. He would see if the twins really knew what they were doing.

Yami threw the ball of magic at the nearest firework, a dragon shaped one. As soon as the magic hit the dragon gave a very realistic roar and let out a burst of fire from its mouth. It continued its way around the school, blasting fire as it went.

Yami laughed out loud and as the two adults ran from the room he followed. Though no one else could detect it the flaming dragon image had taken in the magic and integrated it into its functional spell. This was going to be fun.

The other teachers kept the two running around the school to attempt to extinguish the fireworks. Yami followed them and every chance he had he tried a different spell on the Weasley twin's newest invention.

Mer-magic made them sing in merish, the horrible shrieking version you heard above water level. Centaur magic made the wheels shoot off multicoloured sparks which eventually became whole new fireworks. Elfin magic made the fireworks nearly indestructible while earth magic made them swell to astronomical size.

Yami wasn't quite willing to risk trying a Shade spell on them, but it was definitely a plan for the future.

Yami made his way into the common room that night, everyone was smiling and laughing. Most of the fireworks were now outside and there were several people watching from the window, cooing at the enormous pink pig that Yami had hit with the earth magic. It was currently doing battle with the bright red dragon Yami had first spelled.

The twins were the centre of attention as people congratulated them, even Hermione seemed impressed. Yugi was holding a fist full of sparks surreptitiously behind his back. Once in a while he would let one escape to caper around the room before fading with a small pop.

Harry was smiling along with everyone else, but he seemed to be trying to write something. Yami made his way over. "Having fun?" He asked, Harry jumped slightly. He hadn't been looking out for Yami.

"Yeah I suppose." Harry tried to turn his attention to the parchment in front of him. There was something bothering him. Yami was trying to build up the care-factor to ask him when the Weasley twins came over with their brother. "Something went a little wrong with the fireworks." They both noted.

Ron looked over at them. "What'd you mean?"

"Well not that what happened wasn't great, but some of them did some strange things, like the dragon and that big pig." They all threw a glance out the window at the still fighting fireworks, the dragon had the pig by an ear while the pig had the dragons tail in its mouth.

"Yami." Harry said distractedly. Yami jerked around and was confused until he realised that he was an explanation, not being called on. "Yami spelled a couple of them." Yami was impressed that Harry had realised that it was him who had affected the fireworks.

The twins looked at each other and grinned. "Cool, well at least he's still on our side that may help a little." They both fell to thinking. Yami wasn't sure what to make of it. They wanted him to help them and while it was a little opposite to his personality Yami figured that if he induced a little fury then he could rouse himself to give them a helping hand.

OOOOOOOO  
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OOOO

Harry didn't feel at all rested when he woke the next morning. His dreams had been haunted by the door, some nights he was getting right into the Department of Mysteries and down the aisles of globes. He just wished that he knew what he was looking for in there.

Harry was only halfway through his day when he remembered that he was supposed to be seeing Professor McGonagall about his future career and such. Harry scooped Yugi and his bag up carrying both rather haphazardly.

By the time he had reached McGonagall's office Yugi was making objective noises and Harry was out of breath. "Sorry Professor, I forgot." As Harry slumped into his chair, he noticed that Umbridge was sitting in the corner of the room with her clipboard.

Since McGonagall was obviously determined to ignore her, Harry decided to do the same. Yugi sat at his feet and muttered to himself as he straightened his clothes, pulled askew by Harry's grip on the way over.

"Well Potter have you had any thoughts as to what you would like to do when you finish at Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked him, straightening the many papers and pamphlets on her desk.

Harry took a couple of deep breaths and nodded noncommittally. "I did think about being an Auror." He said unable to stop his eyes from flicking towards Umbridge.

McGonagall nodded firmly. "Well you will need very high grades for that, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms perhaps and Potions. Yes potions.'"She added as Harry groaned softly in irritation. Not another year of potions.

Umbridge coughed softly and McGonagall looked around at her. "Yes Deloris." She wasn't happy.

"I doubt that Mr. Potter will be accepted into the Aurors, personality and criminal records are taken into account when applications are given." She gave her most simpering smile and Harry had a severe urge to jump up and slap her.

McGonagall's lips were tight, but she resisted saying whatever it was she wanted to say and turned back to Harry. "You could also look into being a spokes person for the relations to other species section of the Ministry, since you seem to have a knack for communicating with the uncommunicatable." Her eyes flicked down to Yugi and then back to Harry.

He suspected that she was thinking more of Yami than of peaceful little Yugi sitting at his feet. "Sure Professor, I'll give it some thought." Harry grabbed his bag taking this as a suggestion that he should leave.

He was about to lean down and grab Yugi, but the elf scampered to the door. Apparently Yugi wasn't really interested in being hauled around again.

Harry gave Yugi a grin as they left the two teachers giving each other death glares.

A couple more days passed without incident, that in itself should have told Harry that the Weasley twins were building up for something big.

It was nothing like he had expected. Harry was walking from Defence Against the Dark Arts to Charms when he heard screams from somewhere above him, Hermione and Ron gave him nervous glances. Yugi gave a great sigh and shook his head, though Harry could see that he was smiling faintly.

Charms was in the general directions of the screams so the three of them headed towards the sound. Harry hadn't seen Yami in a couple of days, but he suspected that he would find the Shade nearby.

What they found was the Weasley twins standing facing Umbridge in the Entrance Hall. Their faces were oddly exultant; they were obviously pleased with themselves.

Umbridge was livid. "Completely insane, you can both expect expulsion." Her face had turned a strange purple colour and Harry wondered absently if she was going to faint.

Filtch pushed past carrying a bundle of papers, some of which he dropped as he hurried forwards in delight. "Got them Headmistress; permission for whipping."

Fred and George looked at each other and nodded. "I don't think so old pal, I do believe that we'll take our leave. Accio brooms." The twins both lifted their wands above their heads. From behind them there was a loud smash and their confiscated brooms shot over head and went to hover near their masters. Cheers were already beginning in the mass of gathered students.

Fred stowed his wand in his pocket and spoke as he rode into the air. "You can find us at our new premises in Diagon Alley, discounts to all Hogwarts students who will use our products to get rid of this old bat." He pointed dramatically at Umbridge as he and his brother rose higher into the air.

Fred turned his head and looked at Peeves, who was now at eye level to them. "Give her hell from us." Peeves cackled and bowed.

Fred lifted his chin and yelled out over the crowd. "Gryffindor forever, Hogwarts Fight Back."

Harry saw Yami move, the living shadow seemed to meld with the wall. For a moment nothing happened, but as the twins spun around and headed for the open door the walls became glowing scarlet and gold and an image of a lion leapt across the wall to Harry's right. A roar split the air and Harry added his voice to the cheering coming from around them.

Somewhere in his head, as he cheered for his two friends as they flew off into the distance. Harry knew that the next few days and weeks would be very interesting indeed.

* * *

_I love that last scene in the book, and I had to have it in my story in some form or another._


	29. Hagrid's Secret

_All I have to say about this chapter is that magic makes pranks fun!_

Chapter 29: Hagrid's Secret

Harry had been right, chaos reigned throughout Hogwarts. Students were already applying those joke products that Fred and George had been able to sell before they left. The Skiving Snackboxes got the best run, with students in Umbridge's class all coming down with fevers, blood noses and vomiting.

Some students attempted to fight back more actively, spelling the members of the Inquisitorial Squad as they patrolled the corridors.

However there were two forces within the school which outdid everything anyone else did by a mile.

The first was a perfectly visible and understandable cause, Peeves. He had taken Fred's parting words to heart and could always be found zooming around the school dropping ink or water bombs on students heads, toppling piles of parchment or suits of armour and when he got bored making up rude rhymes about Umbridge and singing them at the top of his voice while he followed her around the school.

There was also the second and arguably greater force at work. To most people it seemed as though the castle had decided to take matters into its own hands.

Doors and rooms were inexplicably moved, at one point the entire Ravenclaw common room disappeared for a few days. Magic went haywire at random intervals, the best one being during Charms one day when no matter what spell they used they turned whatever they were spelling into a duck.

That day they had left a confused Flitwick in the classroom while all the students fell over each other laughing.

For those who were in the know, ie. Harry, Ron and Hermione they knew that it was Yami. The Shade had finally been given a chance to employ his magic to its fullest extent. Harry had no idea how he was managing some of his tricks, but he knew that the twins would have been impressed.

To all of their surprise Yugi did nothing, in fact Harry had caught him once or twice making suggestions to the Shade.

Some of the DA members would give each other significant looks whenever one of Yami's tricks came into play. They at least had a face to match to the chaos.

The next and final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to decide the Cup was to be played at the end of May. Harry was kind of glad that the games were coming to an end, he still felt that stabbing sense of loss whenever he watched the others practicing.

Harry was leaning against a wall near a disused classroom, trying to appear casual. Yami and Yugi were inside and from the length of time that they were taking to make Yami presentable to the human population they were having a deep and meaningful conversation at the same time.

Hermione hurried around the corner. Like Harry she wore Gryffindor colours and was looking a little harried. "Well Ron is heading down to the field, he looks as though he has swallowed a dungbomb though. Aren't they done yet?" Hermione gave the closed door a curious look.

Harry just shook his head and then started away from the wall as the door opened and Yami stepped through carrying Yugi.

Yami was dressed in his robe and scarf, his eyes dimmed down to the dark violet that meant that the colouring spells were in place. He also looked appropriately solid with nothing wisping away as he walked.

Yugi held out his hands to Harry and was duly transferred before they started off towards the Quidditch pitch.

The game started off poorly. Ron was obviously feeling the pressure, he allowed several goals in. It wasn't until he dropped down to their level to retrieve the Quaffle and he noticed that Yami was once again standing with them, that he went pale and the determined look reappeared on his face.

He caught the next attempt at goal.

It was at that point that Hagrid tapped Harry on the shoulder. Once Harry's knees had recovered from the shock he turned to look at their giant friend. He looked nervous under all the cuts and bruises.

"Harry, Hermione, quick while ev'ryones watchin' the match." Hagrid motioned desperately. Harry threw a quick glance at Yami; the Shade was turned very deliberately away from Hagird. As Harry looked at him, Yami's eyes slid to him and he shook his head very slightly and looked back towards the game.

Harry was going to take that as Yami was going to stay here.

Harry followed Hagrid with Hermione just behind them. By the time Harry remembered that he was carrying Yugi it was too late to turn back.

Harry was just a little nervous as to what Yami would do if he put Yugi in any kind of danger. The feeling redoubled when Hagrid began to lead them towards the Forbidden Forest. "Hagrid where are we going?" Hermione asked she looked as worried as Harry felt.

He had a bad feeling that what Hagrid was going to show them was going to get them in a great deal of trouble.

As they began to plough through the every thickening trees, Yugi slid from Harry's arms and began to trot along at his side. Harry had to say that he was glad, it gave him an extra arm to fight through the entangling branches. Yugi lifted his hand holding a glowing orb of light which lit their way more clearly, though in multiple colours.

Harry finally stumbled into a clearing, Hagrid had stopped just ahead of them and was now calling out, "Grawp, Grawp." Harry didn't know what on earth grawp meant, but he hoped it wasn't anything dangerous. Knowing Hagrid, Harry should have known better.

Grawp was sixteen feet tall and had a head like a boulder. Grawp was a giant. Yugi gave a very faint squeak and sat down, his eyes huge and startled. Apparently he hadn't expected this either.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami jerked around when the stabbing of fear came along the bond from Yugi. Why had Harry not left the elf with him? Stupid question really, Yugi had decided that he wanted to go with Harry so he went.

Yami began to push through the crowd. People complained at him, at least they did until he glared at him. His eyes may have been dulled by Yugi's colouring spells, but that didn't mean he couldn't glare well.

It took him a good few minutes to make his way out of the sight of any of the humans and take his true form. He moved swiftly through the dim light of the forest, the shadows clammering for his attention. The remaining darkings were overjoyed to see him and many of them followed him happily.

Some of the darkings that he had sent out following the human had reported back insignificant details, but Yami had sent them to continue their work. As such the population in the Forest was slighly depleted.

Those darkings that remained and the three which he kept with him skittered out around him searching through the forest. Though all of them were now pointing out the 'big thing' that they had come to him with earlier.

Right so the big thing had scared Yugi, well it was in for a surprise now wasn't it.

Yami could sense that Yugi was getting closer and he was no longer frightened, startled a little, but no fear. After a little deliberation Yami changed course to head for Yugi rather than the big thing which was deeper in the forest.

Yami found Harry and Hermione in the company of the huge half-giant Yugi liked. They were all looking a little worse for wear and were talking excitedly. Then one of the darkings scurried up to him. Yami turned to question it, its reply was quick and to the point; centaurs with ill intent.

Yami hurried around to get into a better position; the group of centaurs was heading for Yugi's little group.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry turned his head at the loud and approaching sound of hoof beats. Hagrid muttered a curse and checked his crossbow.

The centaurs moved out from the shadows of the trees. Harry made a desperate gesture to Yugi and the elf wandered over to him, giving him a slightly curious glance.

Harry picked up Yugi and wrapped his arms around him, hoping slightly desperately that he would be able to protect the tiny elf.

"Hagrid you have been told that you are not welcome in our forest." The black centaur that Harry recognised as Bane said.

"It ain't your forest." Hagrid replied his huge hands tightening on the crossbow trigger.

Yugi made an irritated noise and managed to twist around in Harry's arms to get a good look at what Harry was so worried about. When he saw the three centaurs standing there he sighed and pulled free of Harry.

Harry lunged forwards as Yugi landed lightly on the ground and moved forwards to face the centaurs. He sung something to them and then pointed. It was clearly an order, leave.

For a moment Harry was terrified that the centaurs would just shoot him full of arrows, but to his amazement they all three bowed deeply and backed up into the shadows under the trees. "We will allow you to pass this once, but if you come here again we will not be so kind."

It was at this point that Harry noticed Yami's shadows flowing between the trees. The Shade paused and watched the centaurs retreating backs before vanishing into the distance.

Harry gave a great sigh of relief and picked up Yugi. "I wish you wouldn't do that, you scared me."

Yugi smiled apologetically and accepted Harry's hug.

Hagrid hustled them out of the Forest very quickly, students were streaming out of the Quidditch stadium singing loudly.

Yugi turned his head curiously towards the crowd. Hermione gave a horrified sob as Hagrid left them. "A giant, Harry in the forest and we're supposed to give him English lessons. Oh.""She looked frightened and Harry didn't really feel all that much better.

He shifted Yugi around on his hip, the elf was tugging desperately on Harry's scarf, but Harry was more focused on Hermione.

"I wish they would stop singing that song." Hermione snapped as the tune to 'Weasley is our King' hummed out from the mass of students. Harry turned and frowned there was something wrong. Yugi tugged more insistently, "What is it?" Harry asked. The elf pointed and for the first time Harry saw that bouncing on the shoulders of the crowd was one very familiar figure.

Ron caught sight of the three of them coming up behind the mass of people around him. "Harry, Hermione WE WON, we did it." Harry couldn't stop grinning especially when he saw that Ron was holding onto the silver Quidditch Cup.

Ron was carried inside leaving his two scratched and bruised friends standing outside. Harry looked at Hermione and he could see that she was thinking the same thing that he was. Leave their news until later.

As they trekked back inside Harry looked down at Yugi. "Is Yami back?" He asked.

Yugi shook his head. "He is going to have a look at Grawp." At their slightly startled looks Yugi added, "Don't worry I've told Yami not to hurt him."

Harry wasn't sure who he thought would win that particular fight, but he was glad that he wasn't in it or anywhere nearby for that matter.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami prowled deeper into the forest, only one of his darkings remained and it had tucked itself deep into Yami's shadows and was shaking badly.

There were very few animals in the area at all, Yami wasn't really surprised. Giants weren't known for their gentle nature.

When Yami located the giant he was very unimpressed. It was only half the size of the one that Yami had fought with and he seemed to be a particularly stupid member of his race. He was smart enough however to notice when Yami joined him.

Shades didn't affect giants as much as some of the other humanoid races, mainly because of their size and unusual inability to know when they were frightened.

However they could sense the presence of one of the living shadows even if they couldn't locate them.

The giant began to look around for him. Yami's last darking left, so he approached the giant and ran all over him, the giant freaked out a little at that. However his aimless blundering and arm waving proved very quickly that he wouldn't be any kind of trouble. He was definitely not one of the very rare and exceptionally dangerous giant mages.

Yami left, he could take care of a dwarf giant if the creature became an actual danger to Yugi or his humans.

* * *

_Well that was fun, things are starting to heat up now, even if this chapter doesn't show it. This was all about subtle clues the sort that you might not notice unless you know exactly where I am going with this._


	30. OWLS

_I'm not having a lot of time to write at the moment. 32 hours of uni a week is a real killer. However I will try and make sure that I start doing all my updating on Saturday's again. Makes it easier for people to check if there is an update and it makes it less likely that I will forget to update._

Chapter 30: OWLS

The atmosphere around the school had changed dramatically over the last few weeks. Many of the students were beginning to panic.

Yami had heard Harry, Ron and Hermione talking about owls and this seemed to induce the panic. Yami was a little confused as to why everyone was so suddenly frightened of the post birds.

Especially when they didn't run screaming as the post was delivered.

Yami was currently in the library watching three human girls have a panic attack. Two of them were sobbing uncontrollably and the third kept knocking things over.

A familiar sense ran through him and Yami looked over to the door. Harry was coming into the library a bag of books on his shoulder. Yugi was following after him.

Harry was starting to look stressed as well. Yami thought that this was a good thing, not because it gave him access to the boy's emotional energies, which it did, but because it allowed Yami to locate him with startling accuracy.

The black haired human took a seat without looking around and Yugi climbed onto a chair next to him. Yugi had been helping their three humans to read through things. The elf seemed to understand human magic very well for someone who had only been around it for a small part of a year.

Yami turned his attention back to the three human girls near to the bookshelf he was draped over. They had paused in their sobbing and were now watching Harry outright.

Yami poked at the remains of their fears and two of them gave a faint scream, the other one fainted. Yami gave a great mental sigh, really these humans were kind of pathetic.

Harry had looked up at the screams. His eyes settled on the three girls and then went upwards searching for him. Yami hid as best as he could, but it was no good. Harry's eyes found him and he jerked his head sideways a little.

Yami had no idea what this meant, but his chance at running was taken when Yugi translated for him. /He wants you to come here./

Yami glided to the floor and slunk through the bookshelves to the table where the two of them sat. He found a patch of darkness under their table and forged himself a pair of eyes. He couldn't risk a full human form in the presence of other humans, but Harry seemed to find it difficult to talk to him when Yami was in shadow form.

Despite the fact that Harry could see where he was, he didn't seem to be able to work out which part of Yami he should talk to.

By providing some sort of solid bit Harry could talk to Yami put the human at his ease and prevented Yugi from poking him about Harry's discomfort.

"Stop tormenting people, the atmosphere around here is bad enough already." Harry muttered in Yami's direction.

Yami started with surprise, Harry usually treated him warily. Not because he was a Shade, but because he knew that Yami was much stronger than he was. This was the first time Harry had given him an order right out, usually he asked Yugi to intercede.

Once he was over his surprise Yami was impressed, the boy really was brave. Stupid, but brave. Yami reeled in his fear spells and the three girls looked around and gave each other uncertain smiles and got out their books again, still sending covert glances over at Harry.

Harry bent over his work again, but Yami noticed that his eyes were unfocussed and he was paying no attention to what was written on the page. Yami slid a tendril up over his shoulder and looked down at the book.

He was reading about one of the wars from a century ago. Yami wasn't totally sure which war it was, humans had so many of them it was hard to keep track. Still as Yami read rapidly through the page he remembered a few of the more interesting parts, there had been two other Shades involved in that war as well as himself.

Of course that wouldn't be documented in a human book, most humans didn't even notice when a Shade started to take part in a war. However you could almost be guaranteed in any war at least one of Yami's people would make an appearance, especially if the war was a particularly bloody and vicious one.

That last one had been rather fun as far as Yami could remember. Lots of different species had been involved.

Harry twitched and threw a covert glance over his shoulder, "Do you know anything about this?" He asked.

"I was there." Yami purred his reply and dropped back sliding over to a nearby bookshelf.

Harry's eyes flickered over to him again, "Could you help me study."

Yami stopped his examination of the books on the shelf and turned back to the young human who was now watching him hopefully. "Study?" He asked, not entirely sure of what the word meant.

"Yeah, we have to learn about all this stuff that happened, wars and decrees and stuff as well as our magic." Harry leant towards him eagerly.

Yami considered the point, it would be uninteresting and pointless, but what the heck he had nothing better to do. "Alright, but not here. There are too many interruptions." Yami moved off as the adult human who stalked through the library with a vicious look on her face hastened over to see if Harry was misbehaving.

Yami left the library and made his way outside. In the time he had been here he had discovered just how attentive or inattentive humans really were to his shadows.

Yami had never spent this much time around a group of humans during the day and not had any of them notice him. Perhaps it was the fact that they were young, or more likely it was that the wizards had become so overconfident in the strength of their anti-Shade spells that they no longer looked out for his kind.

Well this worked out best for him, it allowed him more freedom. It was nice to go back to not skulking in shadows.

Yami wandered around the grounds of the castle, the creatures in the forest were restless. The giant in the forest and the centaur's anger and discomfort made them all nervous. The resulting tension was very good for Yami and as a result also very good for the darkings that followed him around.

Yami was wandering through the edges of the forest watching the half-giant Hagrid when three of the darkings he had sent off to follow the members of the Order found him. They were excited and calming them down enough for Yami to understand what they were trying to tell him took some time. Finally they managed to unravel themselves and project their findings to him.

Yami bit down on his own excitement as he filtered through what the three had seen. They had followed some of the members of the Order and they had all gone at one point or another into a human building and stayed next to a door for several hours.

These three darkings, after meeting up when their humans met at the door, had taken things into their own hands. They had gone through the door and explored the rooms behind it. Yami filtered through the things that they had found and was horrified. The humans were experimenting with magic that they shouldn't have access, time and memories and death and prophecy. It was impossible to know which of these things it was what Voldemort was actually after, but the thought of him with any of these dangerous magic's was concerning.

Yami considered what he should do, the darkings had rejoined the masses within the forest and really he had all he needed. Yami knew that the building that this room was in was the place that the humans called the Ministry of Magic. He had been there once before when it was first built, before the anti-Shade spells had been discovered.

/Yami, Harry wants to talk to you/. Yugi voice penetrated his concentration without effort.

Yami sighed and flowed back out of the forest, taking a few darkings with him. He found his three humans sitting under a big tree by the lake. Yugi was perched in the braches above their heads singing to the tree which swayed gently in response. Yami made his way over and gathered his shadows into the shade of the tree where he was partially invisible. Harry looked down at him. "Hey could you give us a hand now?"

Yami formed a hand out of his shadows, didn't Harry realise how hard it was to only partially take human form. Why on earth did he just want a hand?

Harry stared at him and then he laughed. Yami growled at him, what was so funny?

Harry's grin remained, "I don't literally mean a hand, it's a figure of speech. I just mean could you help us now?"

Yami rumbled irritably to himself and considered how best to do this. He couldn't take human form, there were too many people. However he needed to hold the papers which they were reading off of. The three humans looked hopeful and Harry held out the book that he was reading from.

Yami moved forwards and took the book from Harry's hands, completely wrapping it in shadows. To the human eye it would have vanished, but now Yami could read it without having to have the book hovering in front of him. It was also going to be unbelievably difficult to turn the pages, but he would deal with that when it came to it

Hermione was leaning forwards,her face eager, while Ron had leant backwards onto the tree trunk and had his eyes tightly closed.

Yami wasn't entirely sure what it was that they wanted him to do, so he looked at the book suspended within his shadows and just started to read it aloud. As he read he realised just how ridiculous this all was, most of these facts were skewed to make it look as though the humans were in the right. Yami knew for a fact that they had been very much in the wrong during most of these wars. Their irritating habit of thinking that they were the greatest creatures in existence was just ludicrous.

He paused to fumble the page over and to distract the three humans from the awkward twisting of his shadows he told them exactly what he thought of their book.

"This is very wrong." That damn page was stuck.

Hermione opened her eyes and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"The way this war has been written is wrong, while the basic facts are correct the reasoning behind the other species involvement in the war is wrong." Oh for heaven's sake, really this shouldn't be this difficult.

Hermione looked thoughtful. "Well it has been written by wizards and they aren't known for being willing to acknowledge their own mistakes. But this is what we have to learn."

"Fine, but why do you have to learn this again. Has that ghost not already told you all of this?" Yami invested in some inventive cursing as the page which had been almost turned, fell backwards.

Ron scoffed, "Yeah, but no one can remember anything that Binns says; he's so...boring."

Harry nodded, "Your voice is much more memorable."

Yami wriggled his shadows in a sort of shrug and as Yugi giggled at him from above, he finally got the page to turn. "Fine, may I continue on this fairy tale then?"

He did wait for them to reply, just continued on with reading the book out. He got better at turning the pages as he went. By the time he had read through half of it and the humans had to go back inside, Yami could turn the page within his shadows without having to think about it. What a useful skill. He would impress all kinds of people with that one.

During the next few days Yami read more of the stories from that and several other books and the humans in the school became more and more panicky. Hermione was particularly bad, so much so that Yugi was forced to put several soothing elfin spells on her to prevent her from fainting every time she so much as looked at Yami.

It was some time into the next week that a large group of very old adult humans arrived at the school. Several people screamed and looked terrified. Drawn by the emotions Yami followed the adults carefully. He could see nothing terrifying about them, in fact some of them looked as though a good strong breeze would knock them over. Harry, Ron and Hermione were hovering hesitantly near the stairs, Yugi stood a few steps up from them. Yami glided over and asked, "Who are these humans?"

Hermione jerked around and went pale, Ron shuddered so Harry answered. "They are the examiners, the ones who are going to test us on our magic."

Yami thought that of all the things he had heard about humans this was one of the most ridiculous. They had magic they could use it, why did they need to be tested on how they could use it.

Yugi looked over their heads towards the examiners and seemed to come to a decision. He leapt down the stairs and ran across the hall. Umbridge spotted him first and looked horrified. Her eyes flashed up to Harry and fury flittered through her, but before she could make any comment several of the other adults noticed Yugi. The tiny elf waved one hand and gave them his biggest smile.

They all looked a bit stunned. Yami chuckled. He was very familiar with that effect. "Well now you look a little young to be at Hogwarts." One particularly wizened female nearly shouted as she bent stiffly to get a closer look at Yugi. He smiled up at her, but as usual said nothing.

Harry looked like he was about to move over, but Yami stretched out a tendril of shadow and caught him around the shoulders. Harry froze, have a Shade wrapped around him was probably not very comfortable, but at least Yami could rely on his staying very still. The Shade could sense Yugi's plan and didn't want Harry to barge in and mess it up.

The old witch was still talking to Umbridge. "Well, well so is Hogwarts taking in very young children now?" She peered at Umbridge who was practically collapsing in nervous fear. Yami was enjoying this and he thought that now would be a good time to play a trick on her.

It had been a while since Yami had activated and controlled the magic from the school, but now would be a good time to pick up on it again.

"No no he is one of the students... er...well..." She fumbled in confusion.

Yugi gave the other adults a final smile and turned to run back to Harry. Yami moved backwards into the shadows higher up the stairs as the three humans were put under greater scrutiny. Yugi climbed into a stunned Harry's arms and muttered softly to him. "We can go now."

Harry turned automatically and climbed the stairs. Hermione gave the adults a final frightened look before Ron pushed her gently up the stairs.

Yami concentrated on following the humans. Once they had started to make their way through the corridors Yami set to work. Moving ahead of them he started to move rooms and hide doors again.

By strategically moving dead ends and passages he managed to keep them all walking around the school for nearly half an hour. Umbridge was becoming increasingly desperate and the other adults were looking doubtful. Apparently a headmistress who didn't even know her way around the school was not considered to be highly accomplished.

Yami was pretty sure that the twins would have approved.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry settled into a chair and pulled out one of his books. Yugi was sitting once again at his feet playing with his teddy. The elf had been a great help in studying for the exams. He seemed to understand a surprising amont of their magic, particularly considering he had never encountered humans before this year.

Of course Harry had also been able to put into practice his idea from earlier in the year that Yami's voice was so memorable that even History of Magic could be easily remembered when he read it out. The only problem was that Harry now had so much stuff floating around in his head that he wasn't sure that he would be able to come up with the right information when he needed it.

His dreams of the corridor and the door had now been replaced with dreams of magic gone wrong and of staring at pages of questions which he didn't know. Harry wasn't sure which set of dreams he would have preferred.

After a weekend of hectic study in which Harry saw very little of their resident Shade; the exams began.

Monday morning found him sitting at the Gryffindor table between a sleepy looking Ron and Hermione who was reading through a textbook with a slightly desperate look on her face. Yugi sat opposite them between Neville and Dean. The elf was the only one at the table who seemed at all happy. He was smiling widely at everyone. Some people tried to return the smile, most just looked ill.

Harry wasn't exactly sure where Yami was, but he had asked Yugi to ask the Shade to stay away from the Great Hall while they were doing their exams.

The time had come for them to take their first written exam; Charms.

Harry was waiting near the doors to the Great Hall. He had sent Yugi off to find Yami as he didn't think that the little elf would be allowed into the exam with him. The doors swung open and Harry swallowed hard as he was pushed forwards as the people behind him started moving forwards.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami was rather curious as to what was going on in the Great Hall. Harry had seemed very worried, so much so that he had returned to asking Yugi to ask Yami things.

There was no way that Yami could go and find out what was going on though. He had Yugi with him and Yugi wouldn't let him go and look because Harry had asked that they stay away. Yugi had even forbidden him from sending a darking along to spy for him. So they were sitting in an unused classroom playing wizard chess which Yami had found a very entertaining game; especially when playing someone as skilful as Yugi.

This little elf was lying on his stomach moving the pieces with magic while Yami floated around the room in between moves. Once in a while he would try and reach out with his mind to see what Harry was doing. Invariably Yugi sensed him and would quickly make his move and force Yami to abandon his attempt and focus back on the game.

Finally after they had won two games apiece Yugi looked up and thought to him. /They are done, we can go now/.

Yami grumbled softly. Sure he could go down afterwards, but not when he was actually interested in what was going on. He could limit the fear spells and try not to affect the humans and they wouldn't even notice that Yami was there.

Yugi gave him one of those looks again and opened the door. Yami had to be amused as he watched. Yugi was so small he had to stand on his toes to reach the handle. Yugi sensing Yami's thought gave him a slightly offended look and stalked down the hallway with his nose in the air.

Yami followed him quickly and when he caught up he laughed, letting the sound weave around through his shadows so that it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Yugi's lips twitched and by the time they had made their way outside to the tree that Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting under the elf was laughing happily.

The sound made the three humans look up and smile. They all seemed much more relaxed now. Yami moved up into the branches and took human form. He stretched himself out on one of the branches and closed his eyes. In this form he could stop seeing anything and sometimes that feeling was nice. The students below him were protected from him by Yugi, so he had nothing to disturb him.

Yami dozed absently in the branches for the rest of the day. Yugi remained in the hollow made by the roots after the three humans hurried off to their next test. Yami could sense what they were doing from here, they were practicing their magic.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOOO  
OOOO

The next week was spent in exams. By the time the weekend came around Harry felt like he had been pulverised. He had allowed himself to sleep late Monday morning as their Astronomy exam was that night and Harry didn't want to be asleep for that. He was looking forward to Wednesday, as the last exam History of Magic was on Tuesday.

Yugi had woken up when everyone else had left the room and as far as Harry knew he had gone with Ron. Harry closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep.

He woke up with the strange feeling that he was being watched. Harry opened his eyes to see Yami leaning over him. It was so startling especially considering that despite Harry's lack of glasses the Shade was perfectly clear, that Harry jerked sideways and nearly fell out of bed.

The Shade tilted his head on the side slightly. "Yugi wanted me to ask you if you had died up here." From the tone, Harry guessed that Yami thought this was a rather odd request.

"No I'm fine, just sleeping..." Harry glanced quickly at his watch, it was nearly midday.

'Damn.' Harry muttered as he rolled out of bed hurrying to pull on his robes as Yami turned to look out of the window. Harry thought about that while he tried to do up his shoelaces.

Despite the fact that Yami obviously didn't care enough about them to notice if they were naked he always turned his back when they were changing. Hermione had also told them that as far as she could tell he had never gone into the girls dorms.

Yami turned back as Harry straightened and got to his feet. The Shade was giving him a look that told Harry he was thinking of asking something. Harry hesitated in the doorway, "Why are you doing these tests?" Yami's deep voice held only the faintest hint of curiosity.

"Well we have to do them to see if we are good enough to move into certain classes for next year which will let us know which job we will get when we finish school." Harry wasn't entirely sure if this would make sense to Yami. Sometimes it seemed as though the Shade knew everything, but other times he seemed to be strangely ignorant to something that Harry considered a basic fact of life.

Yami nodded thoughtfully and turned back to the window. There was a sound behind him and Neville squeezed between Harry and the door and stepped into the room. He started slightly when he saw Yami standing at the window. "Oh hello Yami." Harry's friend said and began hunting through his trunk.

"Hello Neville." Yami replied without turning around. Harry realised that he was tensed up. If Yami turned around at the wrong moment then Neville would see his red eyes. Harry was sure that of all the people in the DA Neville was one of those who would stand up for Yami, but he was still a bit wary of anyone finding out about their Shade.

Neville threw Harry a nervous smile before dashing back past him and down stairs.

Yami turned his head and looked back at Harry. He was smirking. "Don't worry. I am very good at going unnoticed among humans. I was around long before you wizards discovered the anti-Shade spells." He dissolved and flowed out of the window. Harry rubbed his head and turned to go down stairs.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami was wandering around the castle. It was night and most of the children in Harry's year were at the top of one of the towers doing yet another test. Yugi was curled up in the tree sleeping. Yami had tried to convince the elf to go to bed, but he had insisted on staying up to wait for Harry. Yami stretched, it was nice to be out in the dark with almost no risk of being seen. Even Harry had trouble seeing him in the darkness.

As Yami was coming around the front of the school the doors swung open letting a blast of light out. Yami was caught dead in the glowing beam of light. It was so unexpected that Yami was frozen for a moment. Then shadows stretched out towards him as a group of humans stepped out of the door.

Yami lunged forwards and stretched himself out so that he was entirely within the shadow created by one of the adults. Yami had to concentrate hard now, he had to remain exactly within the shadow or he would be seen. The humans were marching across the lawn towards Hagrid's hut. Yami moved with them. He just had to wait until the shadow he was hiding in crossed with another.

The humans hurried up to Hagrid's door and Yami's chance came, he flashed over to the dimly lit side of the stone building. He backed up and watched as the half-giant opened the door.

Yami was concentrating so hard on remaining unseen that his first warning that something was going wrong was a flash of red light going though his extremities and the humans beginning to yell.

Another flash of red light went past Yami missing him by inches. Hagrid roared in anger and lashed out with one massive fist. One of the other humans dropped as the fist connected with the side of his head. Yami saw Yugi coming around the corner and decided that perhaps he should help. He didn't want Yugi getting involved in this.

"You're being unreasonable Hagrid." Umbridge yelled and sent a stunning spell at him. The spell bounced off him. Yami smirked, if Hagrid had been raised properly by his giant family, he would probably be a formidable giant-mage.

As it was he was going to need a little help. Yami sent a shield of Shade magic between the four remaining humans and Hagrid. As they sent off their stunning spell towards him they met Yami's shield, totally invisible in the dark night. The spells ricocheted back a hundred times over. Three hit the two humans and another four sailed past them and slammed into the stern faced Professor that Yugi to liked

She had just come through the doors to stop the attack on Hagrid. The spells that Yami had blocked threw her backwards and Yugi gave a furious wail. Yami's shadows were thrown sideways as Hagrid ran for the forest his dog leaping along at his side. Yugi was crouching next to the unconscious professor and from above there were cries of anger and confusion.

Yami was disorientated. The emotions of the humans above were pleasant enough but they were totally belied by Yugi's sorrow at the injury to the adult he sat next to.

Yami couldn't even go to Yugi because the elf was seated in the beam of light coming from inside.

Several other teachers came running out from the school to Yugi and they immediately got their wands out. Yami had sensed that Yugi couldn't do anything more with his own healing magic and he was now tired from having tried. Yami looked around and spotted Harry watching from above.

Rising into the air Yami made his way up the castle walls which thankfully remained shadowy. Harry looked like he couldn't decide what he wanted to do. The adults who were with him and the others were looking horrified down to the scene on the ground giving Yami the perfect chance to speak to Harry. He snuck over and spoke as softly as he could. "Harry you need to go to Yugi."

Harry didn't even jump, instead he muttered back. "I can't I have to stay and finish this exam." Yami could sense that Harry didn't really care and that he really wanted to go down to Yugi and to see what had happened to his teacher.

Yami looked around and considered. The people here knew Harry fairly well, but it was dark and there was enough earth magic that Yami might be able to manage this. "Let me try something, you need to hold very still and don't say anything."

Yami had to hope that Yugi's spells were as strong as he thought they were. Yami slid his shadows out and wrapped Harry in them. The boy froze and tensed. Yami tried to be careful, but this spell was designed to kill the subject and Yami had not been able to take another form since he had bonded to Yugi.

This was important though, Yami needed Harry to go to Yugi. The elf needed his parent's energies to replace the ones he had expended on healing.

The spell strained, part of Yami wanted to kill this human, to feel his life flicker like a flame and vanish. Yami restrained himself wrestling with his own nature and finally managed to pull the knowledge of Harry's image into his shadows.

Making them take his shape was harder still. They wanted to take their familiar form, the one that felt right. With a great deal of effort Yami managed to get himself to cooperate and Harry sat facing a scarlet eyed version of himself. "You need to be quick, I cannot hold this form for very long." Yami hissed at Harry and quickly took his quill and began to write. The moon and stars were something that he did know well enough to make some effort on finishing this exam.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry ran down the stairs, he just hoped he wouldn't run into anyone. Seeing Yami turn into him had been one of the strangest and scariest things he had ever seen. The sensation of having the Shade wrap around him hadn't been overly pleasant either, though had been greatly dulled by Yugi's protection spells.

Harry reached the Entrance Hall about the same time as the teachers were bring in McGonagall. They were all worried and Madame Pomfry was waving her wand over the unconscious teacher already. Yugi dawdled near the back of the group, his eyes were half closed and he was wobbling on his feet. Harry snuck past the preoccupied group and picked Yugi up. The elf gave a great big sigh and relaxed into Harry's arms. "Will she be alright?" Harry asked quietly before Yugi could fall asleep.

Yugi nodded and wriggled around a bit to get more comfortable. Harry wasn't sure what to do now, but the exam upstairs would be nearly finished. He just hoped that Yami could hold onto Harry's image long enough for him to finish the exam and get away unnoticed.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

The exam was easy. Harry had made several mistakes, but Yami was able to repair them quickly trying to copy Harry's handwriting as best he could. It was a good thing that Yami understood the stars, as he often used them for direction, because it allowed him to focus mainly on maintaining Harry's form.

Yami kept his eyes down, only taking quick and unneeded looks into the telescope. It wouldn't do for people to notice his bright red eyes. It was strange that despite the Shade's great illusionary skills none of them could ever hide their eyes. The most they could do was dull it down to dark violet and for that they still needed the help of another creature, preferably an elf.

"Five minutes." The very old human said. Yami filled in the last few stars on the chart in front of him.

The old human waved his wand and the charts sailed over to him. Yami was up and heading down the stairs the instant his chart left the desk in front of him. He had packed up Harry's telescope before the time had even run out. Yami couldn't give any of the children time to catch up to him and try and talk to him. Yami knew that he wouldn't be able to mimic Harry's voice and that was ignoring his eyes.

"Harry?" Ron called down the stairs. He and Hermione were coming up behind him fast. This body was much taller than any of the forms Yami had ever taken and he was having a little trouble adjusting to how it moved. The Shade wasn't willing to let either of Harry's friends catch up to him. It would involve too much explaining into things that humans didn't need to know about his people.

Yami picked up the pace. He tripped down the stairs a little and managed to find a window. Perfect, he finally allowed his shadows to escape the slightly constricting magic which held them into Harry's uncomfortable form and he flew out of the window. He didn't wait for the humans to come around the corner and find that Harry had disappeared impossibly. Yami coul only hope that they would put it down to the use of the Invisibility Cloak.

Yami sped up to the Gryffindor tower and went in through the window. His darkings were confused and were trying to get his attention to ask him what was going on. Yami pushed them away a little and asked for quiet. Harry was sitting in a chair near the fire with Yugi asleep on his lap.

The elf's energies were recovering, he would be fine. Yami relaxed slightly and turned to Harry. He spoke, taking his proper human form as he did. "You cannot tell your friends what happened."

Harry looked across and stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"You cannot tell them how I made myself look like you, it is not a magic that we allow humans to know."

"Why not?"

Yami bit down a growl. "Why do humans have to ask so many questions? Just do not tell them."

Yugi tugged on Harry's sleeve. Yami's presence had woken him. "Don't tell anyone Harry, please. It is important."

Harry looked down into Yugi's huge pleading eyes and nodded. "Alright." Before he could ask anything else the common room started to fill up with people. People were talking excitedly about Hagrid and what had happened to McGonagall. Hermione and Ron pushed their way through the crowd to the fire place where Harry sat with Yami facing him.

In all the excitement no one had noticed the red eyed stranger in their midst. Yami turned his back on the room. His hair gave him away as a stranger, but his eyes were the danger.

"Is McGonagall alright Harry?" Hermione asked. Ron was looking at Yami, the Shade peeked over his shoulder he coul see that Harry was startled by just how bright his eyes seemed in the darkness. Ron shuddered and looked away.

"I think so, Yugi said that he healed her as best he can, but Madame Pomfrey should be able to fix her up properly, she's never failed yet." Harry answered quietly.

Hermione nodded and threw a covert glance at Yami. "Well we had best be getting to bed, exams aren't over yet." She hurried up stairs. Ron and Harry exchanged a glance. Yugi had already fallen asleep in Harry's arms, tired out from having to heal Professor McGonagall.

"Yami?" Harry asked quietly.

Yami moved smoothly towards the window, he stood there for a moment and then released his physical illusion and faded into the night. However rather than leaving the room Yami waited and watched.

Harry picked Yugi up and followed Ron up to the dorms.

Yami could almost see the cogs turning in Harry's head. He was wonering why Yami didn't want anyone to know about his ability to take other forms. Yami grimaced, Harry was too inquisitive for his own good and that could get him into a lot of trouble.

* * *

_Boy did that chapter start to get long. _

_I originally planned that this chapter and what is now going to happen in the next chapter was all going to be one, but this started to get really long. I like to keep things about the same length it makes things nicer to read._


	31. A Bad Idea

_I am poking my way through this a little slowly at the moment, I have a few partly finished chapters saved up from the holidays thankfully so I can keep updating. Uni is being about as evil as it can be at the moment, two weeks in and already up to my eyeballs in work. Joy._

Chapter 31: A Bad Idea

Harry was staring blankly at the parchment in front of him. History of Magic. The worst possible exam, but at least it was the last. Even with Yami having read out the notes that Hermione had taken in Binn's classes, Harry was having a hard time concentrating.

It was as though something was trying to push its way through his head and in the process pushing everything else out.

He had done part of his exam, but now he had had enough. No more writing, no more studying. He just wanted to sleep, to sleep... Harry mind slipped into the waiting blackness and he once again found himself in the Department of Mysteries.

He made his way quickly through the door and down those endless rows of glass orbs and then he heard the first scream.

"Take it now." Harry recognised Voldemort's voice and he started running. As he rounded a corner, he caught a brief glimpse of a number 92 on the shelf to his left before his attention was totally taken by Voldemort standing over Sirius. "Crucio." Harry's nemesis' cold voice rung through the room and Sirius began to scream again. Harry screamed with him.

"It's alright now, just a dream totally common." One of the ancient examiners was pulling Harry to his feet. People were turning from their exams to stare at him, not in worry, but in sympathy "You just head on up to the Hospital Wing." The examiner said comfortingly.

Harry's head spun. Sirius was in danger. Voldemort had him in the Department of Mysteries. He needed to find help. Harry considered his options; McGonagall had been taken to St Mungo's, Hagrid and Dumbledore were gone. Harry took a couple of deep breaths. Yami could help Harry was sure, but he had no idea where the Shade was.

Yugi...no Yugi was with Yami wherever they were.

Harry paced around the corridor for a few minutes. His scar was still tingling, but no further visions came.

The problem was that if it hadn't been for Yugi's spells Yami would have found him based purely on Harry's current emotional state. However Harry would have to find him, but where.

Harry turned and ran outside. Yugi preferred being outside. Harry ran to the big tree where they had sat and revised. His scar gave an extra strong throb making Harry stumble and gasp clapping one hand to his head.

Two heads peered around the tree trunk. The first low down to the ground the second not really that much higher. Yugi looked worried, Yami looked curious.

"Yami!" Harry gasped out and stumbled forwards.

The Shade lifted an eyebrow. Harry took a few gasping breaths. "I need your help. Voldemort has my godfather."

"So?" Yami's purr showed very little interest.

Yugi was tugging on Harry's robe, but Harry ignored him focusing instead on the red eyed figure leaning casually against the tree.

"I have to go to him, I have to save him."

"What do you expect me to do about it?" Yami turned his head slightly and Harry caught the sound of voices in the distance, the exam must be over.

"Help me." Harry said desperately. Why couldn't Yami understand how close to dying Sirius was?

"Harry." Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville came running up. Harry felt terror wrap through him not only was Sirius in danger, but now Luna and Neville were going to see Yami in all his scarlet eyed glory.

Yami however had another idea. His eyes flickered closed just as they came around the corner. "Oh hello Yami." Neville said.

Yami's eyes opened lazily, now dark violet and he nodded.

"Harry what happened?" Hermione asked.

Harry took a deep breath and re-explained everything hoping that now there were more people he would have a greater chance of finding Sirius. Neville looked nervous, but he hadn't said anything about Harry knowing Sirius and Harry took that as a kindness. Hermione however looked doubtful. "Harry is there a chance you could be wrong?"

Harry stared at her, "No I saw it. Same as I saw Mr. Weasley."

Hermione didn't look convinced. "But what would he be doing in the Department of Mysteries."

Harry couldn't find the words to explain, but his scar gave another more insistent throb and Yugi made a soft desperate noise. He wasn't used to being ignored like this.

"You look different." Luna said absently, she was looking at Yami.

Yami looked back at her his face completely blank. Luna tilted her head on the side ever so slightly, and then she looked at Harry. "Umbridge's office fire isn't patrolled, you could use that."

Hermione shook her head, "You can't just sneak into the Ministry of Magic in the middle of the day. Harry maybe we should check to see if he isn't at home first."

"Fine, but we'll need a distraction." Harry was just glad to be doing something. Yugi made a furious little noise and Harry finally looked down. The elf had slammed one tiny foot down and the ground groaned and shifted in response. "Sorry Yugi." Harry bent and picked him up. "I think it would be best if you stayed with Yami for now."

Yugi looked into his face and then nodded seriously. Yami moved closer and took Yugi from Harry. "I can create a distraction, but it may not last all that long, be prepared."

He turned and walked back towards the castle.

"I think he means now Harry." Neville said on a slightly forced laugh. "Luna and I'll help and try and keep Umbridge away from her office as long as possible, but get going."

Harry ran towards Umbridge's office. He had no Invisibility Cloak so he was going to have to rely on the distractions and hope no one paid too much attention to him.

Just as he was about to round the corner to Umbridge's office there was a muffled explosion and screams from a couple of floors up. Umbridge rushed past him, wand in hand.

Harry paused to catch his breath and to allow her time to get a good distance away from her office. When he had decided that enough time had passed Harry hurried over to her door and opened it.

OOOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami had called on the darkings in the forest to help him with this one. Yugi wanted something that was big and effective and would keep Umbridge occupied for a while. So Yami had spread through one of the old classrooms and set off an explosion using dragon and earth magic. He then set the darkings loose.

One darking on its own was nothing more than an irritating flicker in the corner of your eye, but when a thousand darkings suddenly started careening down the hallways, chaos was a given. The best part of this plan was that human magic did absolutely nothing against darkings. It just provided them with energy. It was sort of like getting angry at a Shade; a pointless waste of energy. Of course the humans had no idea what the tiny energetic shadows were, but they would soon learn some of the more basic principles of dealing with them.

Yami looked around, but he couldn't see the adult known as Umbridge.

He took a detour to pick up Yugi and then they headed towards the office where Harry was trying to contact whatever human he was worried about.

Yugi urged him faster; he was worried, though Yami didn't know why.

He found out soon enough. The darkings rampaging through the school hadn't been enough to distract the adult from her want to catch Harry disobeying the rules. As Yami peeked through the door he noticed that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ron's sister whose name escaped him were all being held by other students.

Yami watched for a few moments before he sensed someone coming up along the corridor.

Despite Yugi's protests Yami drew back and allowed another of the adults, the one that Harry hated to pass into the office.

Yami reluctantly released Yugi from his shadows, but he kept an eye on him. He wouldn't put it past the tiny elf to make a break for the office and try and get Harry out. Yami's first priority was Yugi's safety.

Yugi sat at the base of a nearby statue and looked up at Yami. "We need a plan." Yugi whispered.

Yami shifted closer, this was his sort of thing. As he listened to Yugi outline the plan Yami wriggled in pleasure. Yugi's plan was good, but Yami could think of a few alterations that would make it great, it was finally time to let these humans feel what it was like to be near a Shade.

OOOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry was forced down into the chair by Malfoy. Umbridge was pacing in front of him, turning her wand over in her hands. "Now Mr. Potter, you will tell me who it was you were trying to contact."

Harry remained silent. Sirius was gone, Kretcher had told him that he had gone to the Ministry. Why had he gone and how could Harry help him? Snape had been and gone, and Harry had no idea if his hastily coded message had made any sense.

Umbridge looked furious and began to pace faster, she was muttering to herself. Harry closed his eyes, what was he going to do?

* * *

_Sorry that was a bit of an odd place to stop, but this is a very transitional chapter._

_Lots of action coming up, the end is in sight._


	32. Trust

Chapter 32: Trust

Umbridge lifted her wand and pointed it towards Harry.

Harry took a couple of deep breaths and braced himself, then he sensed something. It was a strange twitch that made him blink in confusion. Umbridge twitched and Harry realised he wasn't the only one to sense it.

Then shadows filled the room. It was Yami. As his shadows engulfed the other people in the room a pair of tiny hands found one of Harry's and pulled him to the ground. There were screams of terror, but Harry's vision was totally obscured by Yami's rolling shadows.

Though Harry had never seen the Shade take up more space than a normal sized human it appeared that he could fill a lot of space when he wanted to.

Yugi had disappeared and came back a few moments later. He was walking calmly through the rippling mass above Harry's head while Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny crawled behind him. All of them looked terrified.

Ginny crawled closer to Harry. "What's going on." Her voice was shaking. The only person other than Yugi who didn't look frightened was Luna. She was looking around with the same absent gaze she gave everything.

Yugi motioned for them all to come closer and they did. Yugi seemed to fill the space around him with a warm glow that offset the cold terrifying shadows that filled the rest of the room.

A few more minutes passed and the shadows began to clear. Harry lifted his head and found that all the Inquisitorial Squad and Umbridge were now held up against the walls by a rope of shadows. They were all shaking in horror, eyes rolling around trying to see exactly what it was that held them.

"How did a Shade get into my school?" Umbridge shrieked.

"You humans, you think you are so powerful. Your magic is nothing compared to mine." Yami's deep voice rumbled around the room. Malfoy gave a terrified cry and fainted. Yami's cold ringing laugh echoed making Harry shudder.

With a great deal of effort Harry turned his back on the prisoners. "I have to go." He told his friends, immediately he saw that he was going to get opposition. Apparently going to the Ministry alone was worth ignoring the Shade in the room for.

"We are coming." Hermione said firmly and Ron nodded.

Yugi tugged on Harry's robe and before he could stop himself Harry had lifted the little elf into his arms.

Yami laughed again and Harry sent a death glare over his shoulder. Neville jerked around, "Harry you can't go alone." He was holding his wand and his eyes kept flicking over Harry's shoulder to Yami.

Harry considered the point. If anything he wanted Yami to come with him, well asking never hurt.

He turned and faced the shadowy rope. "Will you come with me and help?" Yami was given no chance to argue as the others immediately began to talk over each other, trying to convince him that they were all going.

"FINE, FINE." Harry yelled over them. "Yami." He almost snapped. There was another explosion of sound as Neville and Ginny started trying to ask if this was the Yami who had been teaching them all year. Harry was saved from answering by Luna. "He was always a Shade, couldn't you tell?"

Harry stared at her. How had Luna known?

Yami answered Harry's unspoken question, "Shade's cannot hide from elves." Harry was confused but his scar gave another stab of pain and he was forced to focus. "Yami." He tried again.

Considering Yami was currently crushing the life out of a small group of humans his voice was oddly thoughtful. "Your Ministry has many strong anti-Shade spells to prevent me from entering. I may be able to cross them, but I will be severely weakened in doing so."

Harry moaned. He had forgotten that humans put anti-Shade spells on everything.

Hermione made a desperate noise "If only there was some way to get you in there. We'd have a much better chance of getting Sirius out if we had your help."

Yami shadows shifted slightly, Umbridge and her minions were now all unconscious. "There is a human spell which can destroy the anti-Shade spells, I do not know it but I have seen it in effect."

Hermione blinked at him, "Really, wait..." She was frowning faintly and obviously deep in thought.

Harry glanced down at Yugi, who was trying to be inconspicuous in his arms. "You need to stay here." He told the elf.

Yugi shook his head, his face was set to determined.

Yami shifted again, starting to release the humans in his grip. "Yugi you will go to Ryou and you will stay there until I come and get you." Yami's tone left no room for argument, but Harry could see that Yugi was going to try anyway.

Yugi glared at Yami. Harry didn't know who Ryou was, but if Yami was willing to trust him to take care of Yugi then Harry was more than happy to join Yami in a 'bully Yugi into doing what he's told' thing.

"Yugi we want you to be safe, this isn't going to be." Harry tried persuasion but he wasn't really hopeful, Yugi was too good at getting his own way to give in that easily.

Harry was right Yugi shook his head and tightened his grip on Harry.

Yami had release the unconscious teacher and Slytherins and he now took human form as he stalked over. Harry wondered how he managed to be so intimidating despite his considerable lack of height. He looked directly into Yugi's face. "You will go to Ryou and you will not argue."

Yugi stared right back at him, his face held no fear. Yami's eyes burned brighter and darker.

Harry didn't know how Yugi was maintaining eye contact. After a long moment where neither of them blinked and Harry started to feel very nervous Yugi sighed and nodded.

Harry turned his gaze to Yami, who looked a little suspicious. Yugi climbed out of his arms and waved to them all, before trotting out of the room. "How did you do that?"

"Raw will power." Yami's reply was dry, any other explanation was cut off as another wave of shadows began to fill the room.

Everyone flinched and Harry's mouth went dry, other Shade. Terror tightened his chest and then curiosity flared as the shadow made its way over to Yami. He looked at it with irritation and began to mutter softly to it.

"What are those things?" Ron asked.

Yami glanced up as the mass left the room again. "It's my distraction. It's going to keep going to prevent people from noticing that anything is off."

"I've got it!" Hermione yelled clapping her hands in delight.

"Got what?" Harry asked confused, his next question was going to be how did they get to the Ministry, but apparently Hermione had other ideas.

"The spell that breaks the anti-Shade spell, I came across it ages ago when I was looking into what information humans have on Shade's."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "Good then we can go."

"How?" Harry asked. He was really hoping their only option wasn't going to be Yami taking them. Once was enough and the trip to the Ministry was going to be much longer than escaping the Room of Requirement.

"Thestrals." Luna murmured absently. Harry remembered the skeletal black horses that Hagrid had shown them and was doubtful.

Yami glanced at her and nodded. "They are fast and much less painful than my method."

Harry changed his mind he was all for anything that wasn't Yami's method. "How do we get them here?"

Yami turned and walked out the door. After a moment they all ran after him, Yami wasn't really good at explaining what he was doing beforehand.

The Shade led them through the castle, once in a while they would meet up with several bouncing shadows. All the shadows swirled quickly around Yami and then continued on their way. There were no humans about. Harry supposed they were hiding or in other parts of the castle chasing shadows. They left the castle and made their way to the forest where Yami stopped.

He turned slightly and grabbed Ron's arm. Ron's winced in pain and tried to pull away, but with a quick flick Yami sliced a long deep line in Ron's arm and he scooped a palm full of blood and threw in into the air.

Ron jerked his arm away and Hermione, muttering anxiously pulled out her wand.

For a long moment nothing happened and then there was a soft crack and two Thestrals made their way out of the tree line. Harry gaped and the others turned as the horses made their way towards the Shade with blood on his hands.

Once again a little from Yugi

Yugi moved through the forest totally unhindered. He may have only been a child, but he was very strong and the forests loved him.

Being faster than almost anything else alive helped too, but even going at his fastest he wouldn't get to the village in time. He needed something faster. Yugi threw back his head a sung a single keening note.

It took the nearest unicorn only a few moments to find him.

There wasn't much that could move faster than an elf on foot, but a unicorn was one of those things. At this speed it would take him under an hour to reach Ryou. Hopefully that wouldn't be too late for his revenge. Yami's long line of mental images involving him weeping over Yugi's dead body or ripping multiple humans into small pieces because Yugi had been hurt had left Yugi with no choice. If Yugi wanted Yami to take care of Harry and the others, Yugi had to be in total safety.

To the overprotective Shade total safety meant in the middle of a fully armed elfin village in the care of one of the strongest healers their race had ever produced in the very centre of the territory of the only Shade that Yami knew was at least as strong as him. Sometimes Yami's protectiveness could be a little stifling.

Yugi felt that slight change in the magic which meant he had crossed over the double boundary, one separating elfin and human the other stopping other Shade's from entering.

Yugi tapped the unicorn gently with his foot and she slowed, trotting gracefully into the village to find both Ryou and Bakura waiting for him.

Ryou's soft brown eyes were filled with worry, so Yugi allowed the older elf to catch him as he dropped from the unicorns broad back.

"Yugi what happened?" Ryou was checking him over carefully, while his Shade watched uneasily. What made the elf worry always made their Shade wary.

Yugi sighed and after a moment of wriggling around to get comfortable he replied, "Harry is going to rescue his own parent, Yami is going along to help." Yugi paused to consider, it was time to put his plan into action, and get a little harmless revenge on his own Shade. "Bakura, please will you go help too?" Yugi widened his eyes and the met the human-form Shade's cold, if slightly uneasy gaze.

For a moment nothing happened, then Bakura's bloodied gaze faltered slightly. "Please." Yugi breathed, he knew he was asking a lot. Bakura hadn't left his territory in years and he really did hate Yami.

However Yugi didn't want Yami to go on his own. Silly perhaps, but Yugi did worry about him.

Ryou turned to Bakura who was still working on not giving in to Yugi's pleading gaze. "You should go Bakura, Yami may need your help."

Apparently Ryou getting involved was enough to spur Bakura along to replying. "Why should I care if some human gets hurt, let alone helping Yami. Besides I can't leave you here unprotected."

Ryou rolled his eyes, "No one is going to come here and hurt us." Yugi smiled at the pronoun, Ryou always thought of everyone else first. "Your spells are still in place and the ones we set up to warn of human approach are active."

Bakura's face was set to stubborn. Yugi frowned slightly, time to up the ante. He thought of Harry frightened and alone and his eyes willingly filled with tears. That was it, Bakura's will crumbled. Yugi had to be a little proud. Yami would never have fallen for that trick, but Bakura had neither his resistance, nor Yami's practice.

"Fine, I'll go. If you all get killed, I'll never forgive you.' The Shade's form dissolved into its natural shadows and he shot off through the trees. Now Yugi just had to hope that he would be fast enough to reach them before they got to the Ministry.

And Back to Yami

Yami followed the Thestrals as best he could. The path the flying horses took them through two Shade territories. As such Yami had to circumnavigate both of these while the students flew directly through them. It was while he was going around the second territory, with the other Shade watching him very closely from within the boundaries, that Yami sensed an oncoming Shade.

He was powerful, and after a few more minutes Yami began to curse. He recognised the Shade now. It was Bakura. This had to be Yugi's handiwork, there was no way that his enemy would come of his own accord. Yami kept moving, but turned his attention to Bakura's approaching shadows.

Yami felt the faintest trickle of consciousness from Yugi; the elf was begging him to take Bakura with him. Yugi was safe now with Ryou, but Bakura could help to keep Harry safe.

The last was the real kicker and was the reason Yami had agreed to come along. Harry had to stay safe because if he was killed then Yugi would die.

Bakura approached him and Yami decided he should speak first. "Don't worry everyone gives in to Yugi eventually." Okay so it was a little patronising, but Yami had to have something to gloat about.

Without eyes Bakura couldn't glare at him, but the air around them got considerably cooler. "It's kind of pathetic that you can't do this on your own." He jabbed back.

"I didn't ask you to come." Yami replied, trying to keep his voice level and not get haughty.

"No you got Yugi to ask for you." Bakura snarled, before Yami could lunge sideways and attack Bakura continued. "I'm just in it for human torment, I don't get much of that lately."

Yami would have rolled his eyes if he'd had any. "Look, I don't care about the rest, but make sure you protect Harry." They were getting closer to the Ministry and they needed to catch up with the children before they reached the anti-Shade spells.

"Which one is Harry?" Bakura asked a little grudgingly.

Yami didn't reply as they now approached the humans. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all had their eyes tightly closed.

Yami moved over to Harry and spoke in his ear. The human was so startled he nearly slid of his Thestral. "We are nearly at the spells, tell Hermione that she should do her spell now."

Yami drew away as Harry uncertainly nudged his Thestral over to Hermione and spoke in her ear. Yami went back to Bakura, better to explain the other Shade's presence after they had landed and the two of them had taken human form.

Yami didn't really understand why humans were so worried about their shadow forms. He supposed they didn't like the idea of not being able to see where they were. Yami knew that he and most other Shades were more wary of human forms, if a Shade could take any kind of decent human form then they were strong enough to do some serious damage.

He supposed humans hadn't worked that out yet.

The pressure from the anti-Shade spells was increasing and Bakura was hissing at him. Yami glanced at Hermione. She had her wand out and was muttering desperately. Yami stopped and Bakura mimicked him. If they went any further they would have to break through the spells.

Yami turned anxiously, the humans were continuing on unaffected by the spells. He was going to kill Hermione and was in fact in the process of deciding the method of her impending death when that inhibiting pressure vanished. Yami paused and Bakura moved forwards slightly and then dashed off without him. Yami put his plans on hold and followed after his kin.

The humans were all waiting near a wall on a street. Yami dropped down to them and pulled up his human form. They all started slightly as he came through the shadows and he smirked faintly as all of them went pale. Yami could sense Bakura's human form appearing behind him. He had to admit that Bakura's form did have a few things going for it. The bone white hair coupled with an ancient Shade's blood red eyes was rather impressive. That and the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than Yami.

The two Shades kept a few feet between them. They were very unwilling allies, working together because of one little elf and the promise of the sweet taste of human fear.

* * *

_Not entirely sure why I ended here, sorry. It sort of seemed to be an appropriately dramatic sentence. Sort of like it needed a big dum dum dum noise after it._

_Love me and leave a review._


	33. The Ministry

_This follows on directly from the last chapter, with a change of perspective. _

_Sorry if this is confusing, but the end of this chapter is repeated with the battle shown once from Yami's perspective and once from Harry. You'll get the idea as you read, but I just thought that I'd warn you._

Chapter 33: The Ministry

Harry stared. The man prowling along behind Yami had to be a Shade. Somehow it wasn't only the bright red eyes that told Harry that, some strange other sense screamed 'Shade' at him.

There was also something about the way he moved. The way the shadows seemed to flow around him and the general air of 'I'll rip your head off given half a chance' that told Harry that this Shade was not going to be as friendly as Yami.

Yami tilted his head slightly in the white haired Shade's direction. That hair seemed wrong, like someone with hair that colour should be kinder.

"This is Bakura." Yami's voice shifted slightly and Harry could see that he wasn't happy about the other Shade's presence.

For a moment Harry wondered why they were even working together, and then he smiled. Yugi had sent the other Shade. Score one for the elf.

"So you're Harry." Bakura said. His voice was nothing like Yami's soft purr, it was low and cold and full of malice. He turned to Yami, "Fine, let's get this over with."

Ron was holding open the door to the phone booth that was the entrance to the Ministry. They all crammed themselves inside and Harry managed to turn around to see the two Shades watching with identical looks of amusement on their faces.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked a little waspishly. He wasn't really in the mood for being their night's entertainment. Yami shrugged and his shadows flowed into the phone booth, settling up into the space above their heads. Bakura followed suit.

Harry looked up as Ron dialled the number and the phone booth shot downwards. Despite the fact that Yami and Bakura actually seemed to be mingling their shadows he found that he could tell exactly which part was Yami and which was Bakura. This was pushed from his mind as the doors clicked open and they all sort of tumbled out into the Atrium of the Ministry.

Harry threw a fast glanced around. There was no one here. His breathing eased up, he had worried about them arriving and suddenly being surrounded by Death Eaters, he guessed that they were all down in the Department of Mysteries.

"Come on." Harry whispered. Yami and Bakura moved ahead, still in shadow form. They kept low to the ground and Harry could tell by the way the others, bar Luna, looked around nervously that they could no longer see the Shades.

Harry hurried forwards and while still staying just behind their two protective shadows led the way down through the Ministry to the black door at the end of the corridor that had haunted his dreams for so long.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami waited as Harry opened the door. This was the place that his darkings had followed the Order humans to. This was the place that the weapon that Voldemort wanted was kept, perhaps Yami would be able to find and destroy it now.

The humans all had their wands raised, they were on high alert. Unusually though, not one of them was afraid. A little nervous, but no fear, no terror. Yami was very interested in this.

His interest didn't last long. They had entered a round room with numerous doors that spun around. Bakura hissed as the doors began to spin, the human magic was rather pathetic and little more than irritating, but there was something else in the distance.

Yami spoke to Bakura softly so that the humans couldn't hear. "Do you feel that?" He asked.

Bakura shifted and his shadows flickered an affirmative. This was wrong, the magic that the human had been meddling with was far too powerful for them to truly control.

Harry had grabbed a door and opened it. Immediately magic washed over Yami. He snarled in defence and lunged forwards to provide a wall of shadowed protection in front of Harry. The wizard started and stared at him, "What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Yami edged a little further into the room without answering. There was a smooth beam of magic in the room, and a few hundred little hourglasses. The magic on them was human, but it was twisted almost beyond recognition. Time. They were playing with time. Yami shuddered and backed out of the room. Bakura was hissing in anger and all the humans were giving him nervous looks.

Hermione marked the door and the room spun again. This time the door that they opened contained numerous brains, memories. Yami shuddered again and after a quick glance at Bakura he made his mind up.

As soon as they had found Harry's parent, whatever-his-name-was, he and Bakura would destroy this place. It was obviously some kind of magical experimentation area, but the humans were meddling with magic that they should never have access to. If they were allowed to continue on this path they would destroy more than just themselves.

They backed out of the room of memories again and the room spun, Yami allowed a growl of his own to escape, if this kept up he was just going to blast this room apart. He had tried to reach out with his senses to see if there were any other humans in the area, but the many twisted human magic's made it impossible for him to determine if anyone was nearby.

The next door opened to a room that Yami and Bakura couldn't even enter, though their small group of humans did uneasily.

Yami glanced in, the room was empty except for a veiled archway. Beyond that archway were dark shadows. As a Shade he was born of those shadows and he could never return to them.

Only the elves crossed into the realms of death and returned.

Harry was moving forwards as though he were entranced by the rippling veil. Yami tried to move forwards, but the magic which formed the very core of his essence repelled him sending spasms of pain through Yami's shadows.

Ron grabbed Harry and the two spoke softly for a few moments. Luna was watching the veil and smiling. "Don't worry Harry we'll see them soon." Harry gave her a curious look before closing the door and waiting while the room spun.

Yami shifted as Bakura edged closer. "Part blood?" Bakura murmured.

Yami sent an affirmative, Luna's elfin blood allowed her to sense things that no human could sense. The fact that she could hear the voices beyond suggested to Yami that the elf in her blood wasn't forest elf, but more likely those elves that inhabited the mountain peaks, those that worked with air rather than the life of the trees and animals.

The next door that opened led into a room filled to the roof with small spherical crystals, prophecies. "This is it." Harry whispered excitedly. Yami shuddered, everything that his darkings had reported back to him had been true, this was the room of prophecy. Even Shades knew of the humans power of prophecy, one which the centaurs could never truely explain. Human prophecies were tricky things and Yami hoped that Harry wasn't going to get himself mixed up with one.

Yami moved forwards probing with his mind and magic as he did. Surely a human who was being tortured would be giving off terror and agony. Yet Yami could sense nothing, it made him very nervous. This whole set up screamed trap.

Bakura was disappearing down a different aisle so Yami went in the other direction. The humans went straight down the middle with their wands raised.

Yami could still hear them moving and now he was sensing other humans. All of them calm with that little dulling that told Yami that they were ready to attack.

Yami headed for Harry. He recognised some of the magical essences in the group, they were Death Eaters. By the time Yami reached Harry however the younger humans were surrounded. Harry held one of the crystal globes in his hand and was pointing his wand at one of the masked Death Eaters.

Yami circled the group. The Death Eaters were talking to Harry. Yami didn't listen into what they were saying. Instead he focused on their emotions, waiting for that surge of killing pleasure that meant one of them was going to try the Avada Kedavra curse.

As Yami was watching, Bakura arrived. The other Shade had his fear spells out already and threw them at the Death Eaters. Yami considered the advantages of that attack as he watched the Death Eaters shift nervously. Harry's concerned face had changed to a grin. Yami released his own spells and several of the adults jerked around and peered into the darkness.

"Frightened yet Malfoy?" Harry jeered. The Death Eater in front of him turned and raised his wand, he was sweating with the effort of resisting the combined magic of the two Shades.

"What have you done?" He snarled, trying to be angry and failing miserably.

Harry turned his head and looked at Yami. Yami gave a laugh and lunged forwards, snatching the nearest human into his shadows and stuffing fear spells down it's throat. The human began to scream, long endless sounds of raw, unescapable terror.

Bakura lunged for another and the humans reacted. The children yelled spells and a variety of magical lights flashed through the room, none of them hit their marks, but it made the adults duck. This reaction only lasted a few moments before they stood and threw spells of their own. By this time the children were running for the door.

Yami followed them, blocking those spells which would have hit Harry. He left the other students to their own devices.

Yami was just glad that none of them were trying to kill him, though that strange torture spell was thrown frequently. He was glad because the torture spells he could deflect and even absorb, the killing spell he could only deflect by severely draining his energy reserves.

The students had made it to the door when the room behind them began to explode. Yami turned his attention back and realised that having Bakura along was actually proving to be something of an asset. The other Shade didn't care at all about the small group of human children who Yami was guarding his attention was focused primarily on the various Death Eaters.

Several of whom were now quivering on the floor, gibbering in terror. The last tendrils of their fear reached Yami and allowed him the slightest energy boost.

Everyone was running in different directions out of the door room. So once again Yami ignored all the others and followed Harry who ran alongside Neville. Yami paused to choke a Death Eater and as he did he watched Neville try to spell a second. "Damn you stupid child, the earth magic, I taught you that for a reason." Yami yelled.

There wasn't as much of the earth magic here as there was back at the school, but that didn't matter. Both Harry and Neville were strong enough to draw it from the world around them.

As the two of them emptied their minds and drew on the magic around them Yami turned back to the Death Eater he was combating. He could draw on the earth magic if he needed to, but for the moment he would use the magic that he knew best, his own shadows.

Bakura dashed through the room, alternating between human and shadow form. He cackled, jumped fluidly into the air and disappeared into the next room. Well at least someone was enjoying themselves.

Two earth magic shields pulsed into existence and the next few spells that slashed around the room were just absorbed into the faint glowing shields that protected the two students.

Yami laughed and finished off his Death Eater. As he did he sensed more humans coming, he sent a darking to Bakura in case the other Shade wasn't paying attention and then turned back to the battle around him.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stared at Malfoy who was eying the crystal that Harry still held in his hand. They were in trouble now. Why hadn't he listened when everyone had suggested that this was a trap, and how had Kretcher lied to him?

"Hand over the Prophecy Potter." Malfoy said, and Harry noticed that he was starting to sweat, and now that he focused there was a familiar cold sense to the room. Movement caught his eye and without turning his head Harry noticed that Yami had arrived, he couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face.

Another flicker and Bakura arrived. Harry grinned, he was the only one who could see the two, but everyone else was starting to feel their presence. "Frightened yet Malfoy?" Harry jeered. The pale haired man turned his head his breathing was up.

"What have you done?" His voice was shaking badly. Yami and Bakura's spells must be taking effect. Harry could feel nothing but that slight temperature change so Yugi's spells must still be potent.

The others shifted behind him. Though they couldn't see Yami or Bakura, they could certainly feel them and they knew that the two Shades were there. Several Death Eaters collapsed onto the ground. Harry turned his head and looked directly into the darkest part of Yami's shadows.

The Shade took his cue, laughed and lunged forwards snatching a Death Eater.

"Stupefy." Harry yelled and then ran for it. The others ran in front of him towards the door. Harry looked back now and then, but most of the Death Eaters were lost in shadow. Those that were following them were partially concealed by a second shadow which followed them. Harry grinned as he threw another stunning spell over his shoulder. Yami was watching their backs.

As they pelted through to the round entrance room the Hall of Prophecy behind them exploded, Hermione yelled a spell at the door and it closed and sealed itself. They stood trying to catch their breaths as the room spun around them; Yami was moving around the room cautiously.

The other Shade, Bakura had disappeared, but Harry suspected that he was the reason for the last explosion. The room stopped spinning and the door that Hermione had sealed was blasted inwards. Harry threw himself through the nearest door, Neville and Yami followed him, but the others had gone through a different door.

They were back in the room with all the Time Turners, but Harry didn't have time to admire the scenery as two Death Eaters followed him into the room. Yami immediately latched onto one of them.

Shade and human staggered around the room smashing everything up. Harry had one moment to smile and think that Shades like to make a mess when they fought and then he was forced to defend himself as the second Death Eater began to hurtle spells at him.

Neville tried to stun him, but their opponent simply blocked him. Yami's voice rippled through the room. "Damn you stupid child, the earth magic, I taught you that for a reason."

Harry swallowed. He hadn't practiced the earth magic since the DA had been disbanded; this could be disastrous. Harry ducked behind the nearest desk and closed his eyes, to his surprise his mind went blank and reached for the magic with ease. It was easier this time, there wasn't as much magic around so it flowed into him in easy to manage amounts.

Harry was almost distracted for a moment as Bakura dashed through the room, a human consumed by shadows and disappeared through the other door. Harry gritted his teeth and allowed the tingling earth magic to fill his mind.

Harry stepped out from his pitiful barrier surrounded by a shield of earth magic. The Death Eater laughed and hurtled a few more curses at him. The shield sucked on Harry's strength, he had never really gotten to altering the shield so that it reflected or absorbed. Harry tried to focus on the idea of the spells bouncing off the shield around him.

Neville had managed it already and was now trying to stun the Death Eater. Harry pulled out his wand and stunned the Death Eater. Yami dropped his Death Eater and turned. "There are others here."

Before he could go on, there were several screams. Harry began to run in their direction, it could be anything, the others could be facing the Death Eaters, or Bakura could have decided that they were more fun than the Death Eaters themselves.

Harry ran into the entrance room and it spun furiously. He nearly screamed in fury as he waited for the room to stop. Yami was spinning around the room waiting also. Harry was just as angry with himself. It was him who had insisted that they come here, he had risked his friends life on a dream which had been faked. Voldemort knew that he would go to find Sirius.

Harry glanced at Yami and found himself wishing that that the Shades magic worked on him, that Yami could make him even angrier and feed on that energy and to use it to protect the friends that Harry had so stupidly endangered.

The room stopped and Harry threw open the first door his eyes fell on. It was the room with that veiled archway. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Luna battled triple their number in Death Eaters. Harry felt a swell of pride at their skill, especially Luna, who was using her remarkable skill with earth magic to provide shields for the others as well as herself.

Harry realised that as doubtful as he had been about the people he had brought along with him, he could have chosen no better attack squad. He strode into the room and stunned one of the Death Eaters, the anger was still there and it made him feel invincible.

There was a loud snarl from behind him and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing. Both Shades hovered at the door. Yami's shadows condensed, Bakura remained swirled around him. Scarlet met emerald and Yami shook his head, a faintly desperate look on his face. Malfoy yelled, making Harry jump. "The Shade's can't come in here, attack!"

Harry threw up a shield charm just in time, Neville was back to using the earth magic. He seemed to take it more naturally than he did their human magic.

"Yami!" Harry yelled backwards as he found himself face to face with Bellatrix. She was screaming her curses at him, but Harry had once again found the earth magic and her magic was absorbed into the shield, strengthening as it went. He'd got it, but Harry hardly paid any attention. He needed Yami and Bakura in here now.

"We cannot Harry, Shade's cannot return to the place of their birth." Yami's voice held a note of pain as though even standing there was hurting him.

But place of their birth; did that mean that both Yami and Bakura had appeared here, that Shade's were made by wizards? Surely not.

"What do you mean?" He asked, tossing a stunning spell at Bellatrix who blocked it and went back to her screaming, another Death Eater joined her, but Harry's shield held firm.

"The Veil, the shadows beyond are the same as those which create us, we cannot go near." Yami called.

Harry ground his teeth, his shield was starting to draw on him and as such it was beginning to fail. Harry began to duel in earnest now, he had to get everyone out.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami paced at the door. Even being here was a strain, he could feel his energy trickling away. His darkings were whimpering in the effort it took them to be this close to the Veil. They hadn't reported this because they hadn't been able to approach it.

Bakura had disappeared and Yami could hear the sound of shattering glass and feel the human spells breaking under the power of Shade magic. Bakura was destroying the magic that these humans shouldn't be able to use.

Yami's promise to Yugi and the knowledge that Harry was in danger and that the danger extended to his elf prevented Yami from following. Harry was fighting two Death Eaters when the idea came to him. His shadows could get no closer, but the earth magic could.

The humans were just using the earth magic as a shield because that was all that Yami had ever shown them. But he did know other ways of using it. Unfortunately the other ways of using it were severely energy depleting. If Yami did this he would not be able to combat other magic's until he had rested. Harry's earth magic shield flickered momentarily and that made Yami's mind up.

Yami drew up what earth magic he could from around them. It was dulled down because they were inside a building, but there was enough. Yami fashioned several powerful explosions of earth magic, he took aim and threw them, one at a time. Six Death Eaters went down and Yami was done, he couldn't take in any more magic.

None of the emotions from within the room could provide him with energy and his fear spells wouldn't work so near to that veil. His shadows had been stretched to the limit he just had to hope that he wouldn't need to do too much more magic.

Those other humans were getting close. Yami didn't recognise them, but he didn't think that they were Death Eaters. None the less Yami drew back and readied himself, the approaching humans were not protected by the other shadows. He would replenish his reserves with their fear.

* * *

_Wow this chapter was really hard to write, there were a lot of characters for me. So sorry if there wasn't much on some of them, like Hermione and Ron. Lucky I can just dump all the Death Eaters under one heading otherwise things would have gotten really difficult._

_Well at least no one died, yet._


	34. The Veil of Shadows

_Sorry about the wait on this one, Easter has been all over the place and this is the first chance I've had in a few days to get on a computer to update._

_I guess everyone else has been busy, judging by the lack of hits to the last chapter. Oh well, for those of you who only just read the last one, heres another chapter all ready to go._

Chapter 34: The Veil of Shadows

Harry ducked instinctively. The spell shattered on the earth magic shield around his head sucking more strength out of him, Bellatrix screamed her fury again. Not one of the spells that she had attempted had damaged his shield at all, but Harry was starting to get tired. His legs were shaking with the effort of maintaining the shield, sweat was dripping into his eyes and only pure desperation was keeping the earth magic in place.

Then a familiar voice yelled out. "Stupefy." Harry whirled and Bellatrix's next spell hit the shield on his back. Harry staggered down a step watching as Lupin raised his wand to point it at Yami. The other members of the Order of the Phoenix were pulling out their own wands.

The Shade had been guarding the door. He had thrown strange balls of earth magic into the Death Eaters and knocked some of them out, possibly killing them. Harry hadn't bothered to find out. Yami was obviously as tired as Harry was though because rather than the discrete flickering shadows that they had all become used to, he appeared to be made up of thick rippling darkness, like a storm brewing.

It seemed to have the adults a little freaked.

"No! Yami they are friends, Lupin he's with us." Harry threw a stunning spell over his shoulder forcing Bellatrix to put up a shield of her own. The Order and the Shade eyed each other off and then as Hermione let out a scream of agony as one of the Death Eaters finally managed to put a Cruciatus curse on her, Yami dropped back and the adults rushed into the room.

Now the Death Eaters were outnumbered, but they were willing to fight dirty. Harry's scar started to sting slightly; unfortunately it was enough to finally jerk his concentration away from the earth magic.

Bellatrix had never been able to see the shield around him, but she hadn't seemed to care anyway. "Crucio!" She screamed and this time Harry threw himself sideways to avoid the spell.

He hit the ground, his head bouncing a couple of times and the Prophecy rolled out of his fingers to shatter on the stones below. Harry's head spun. He was only vaguely aware of the silvery figure rising from the broken glass. He was more aware of Sirius leaping over him to start duelling Bellatrix.

"Sirius?" Harry blinked rapidly, trying to clear his head. There was a sickening crunch from the doorway and Harry turned his head. One of the Death Eaters had gotten too close to Yami and the Shade had grabbed him and was now in the process of crushing him. Moments later Bakura joined him and their shadows lightened as the Death Eater screamed and they drew in the energy.

Harry turned back to Sirius and staggered to his feet. Bellatrix was backing him into the veil. Harry still didn't really understand what the veil actually was, but he figured that something which Shade's were born from couldn't be very good to touch.

Sirius was still duelling so Harry joined him. Bellatrix was their equal in skill and Harry was tired, his head hurt and felt strangely fuzzy from the effort of using the unfamiliar magic. He had no idea if the others were still alive, all there was in this moment was Bellatrix and Sirius and not dying himself.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami let the body of the Death Eater fall to the ground and turned his attention back to the battle within the room. He felt slightly better for the fear the Death Eater had provided, but his reserves were still dangerously low. Having to share with Bakura hadn't been great either. The other Shade had finished destroying everything down here that he could and had to come to join in the fun. Or what should have been fun, instead the two of them were watching from the door way.

Yami was starting to get a little nervous. Harry was getting very close to the Veil of Shadows; there was no way that he could survive crossing that threshold. Yami jerked forwards and the darker shadows pulsed in response, forcing him backwards.

Yami snarled at them. Why did the humans have to experiment in magic which they didn't understand?

Harry looked tired. Yami had spent enough time around him now to recognise that. The Death Eater that he and the other man were fighting was one that Yami was familiar with and yet not one of Voldemort's people had recognised him. Strange how unobservant humans were. They relied so heavily on physical appearance that when those markers were altered they assumed they were looking at something completely different.

Well Yami would remind them. If of course they ever came out of this room.

Bakura snarled and spun. Yami sensed the approaching darkness a moment later. Voldemort was here. In a synchronised movement of strange and total understanding Yami and Bakura abandoned their post and went after the tainted darkness.

He was above them, through the series of lifts and tunnels. Yami led the way, having spent the last year in the corridors of Hogwarts he understood the complexities of human buildings a little better than Bakura did.

Nothing impeded their progress. The halls were still empty, apparently nothing had warned any of the other humans who were normally here that there were intruders.

The two Shades reached the large room where the golden fountain stood. Yami searched around with his magic. As he did Voldemort stepped out from a dark patch near the wall. "This is something I admit that I did not expect." His cold high voice rung through the room in what Yami suspected was supposed to be an impressive way.

Yami resisted the urge to shudder. The tainting in him was worse than it had been before, there was hardly any human left in him. Yami cursed Voldemort's timing. Yami no longer had the strength for the death spell, which he realised was the only thing which would be able to kill the non-human now.

Bakura turned and circled around, drawing his shadows together into his human form. Yami mimicked him, but he remained in Voldemort's field of view his darkings flickering over his skin in place of the magic he would normally use. "Have you come to join me?" Voldemort asked guesturing with his wand as he spoke.

Yami smirked. Even this human did not realise who he was speaking to, and he thought that the Shades would forgive his past treachery. "Do you not know me human? I wonder, did you get my message."

For the first time Voldemort looked unsure of himself. "I received a message from a Shade. It was you?"

Yami crouched slightly and the human's wand twitched. "You don't recognise me. Well it has been some time. I am Yami human, and you betrayed me. So now I am going to destroy you." Yami released his human form, it was a dramatic moment which would and did induce fear in his opponent. This wasn't the main reason for doing so, his reserves were so low that he could no longer hold onto the illusion which gave him physical form. He wasn't as low as he had been when the non-human had cursed him, but he wasn't far off.

Bakura was in better shape. He had spent most of the night attacking humans, but he had lost a lot of strength to those humans who had managed to land a curse or two on him and he too had employed the earth magic to aid in the destruction of the magic in the levels below.

Voldemort's magic rippled out. It too was tainted with the same darkness which infected his soul. While to another human that made little difference, to the Shades his power was greater. A small spell which from another human would have hardly affected the living shadows, from this non-human sapped his strength to oppose and Yami did not have much strength left to spare.

If only he were closer to Yugi, then his elf's glowing life force would strengthen him.

Yami shuddered slightly to send away that thought. Better that Yugi was safe. Yami and Bakura would destroy this danger and then Harry would be safe to keep Yugi safe.

Voldemort turned and tried another spell. Yami dodged. His shadows were melding with the darkness around them. Bakura did the same. Yami was a little startled at how well they were working together. As they circled in opposite directions, Voldemort's spells all flew wide because he aimed for both of them. As he circled, Yami thought. They would need help or a few terror filled humans to gain the opening they needed to destroy Voldemort.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his world. Sirius had simply stepped backwards too far to avoid Bellatrix's spell and he had backed straight through the veil behind them. Harry had expected him to simply reappear to return fire, but after a moment when nothing happened Harry remembered Yami's words. 'The shadows beyond are the same as those which create us.' Then Harry remembered what he had said earlier in the year, that Shades were born of magic and fear.

The world around him slowed. Sirius was gone, the shadows had consumed him. Finally Harry realised why humans were so frightened of Shades. Something which could kill with such ease and not care. But Harry didn't share that fear. He never had, but now replacing that simple acceptance of Yami's existence was anger. Anger at the shadows which had stolen Sirius from him.

Magic flowed into him. Magic that was life itself, magic with power beyond anything that he had ever felt before.

In accepting Yugi, Harry had unwittingly armed himself with one of the most destructive forces in existence and now the earth magic filled him and willingly turned itself to his purpose. Harry remembered the balls of earth magic that Yami had used earlier to kill some of the Death Eaters.

Without really thinking about it Harry called some of them into existence near to him. Bellatrix, who had paused as Sirius had died, now turned back to him. "Crucio." She screamed. The earth magic deflected the spell as it gathered all the balls together into one point. Harry looked at Bellatrix. This was her fault, Sirius would be alive if it weren't for her. The magic drew on him focusing where he did.

For once Bellatrix seemed to realise that she was in danger and she tried to get out of the way, but the magic was too fast and to intent. She didn't even have time to cry out in pain as the magic simply absorbed her. Harry stood perfectly still for a moment, the magic was gone and Harry felt strangely empty. He staggered sideways. People were talking, but he was moving again. There was something else important that he had to do.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Both Yami and Bakura had been momentarily stunned by the raw earth magic which had flared into existence below them moments before. Voldemort of course had felt nothing and the Shades hesitation allowed him time to attempt another curse on them.

Yami scrambled to avoid the spell which glanced through Bakura's edges. The other Shade shrieked in fury and pain. Yami searched for the source of that magical flare. Normally only the strongest of the elves were capable of that level of magic and the closest thing that they had to an elf was Luna. There was no way that she could draw on that kind of power alone.

What Yami had sensed had been the sort of magic that she had used. The only other possibility, admittedly a rather disturbing one was that the source had been Harry. Certainly Yugi was strong enough to allow his parent that kind of access to the earth magic.

Voldemort had stopped and turned to look down one of the dark corridors. Once again Yami didn't even need to turn his attention to the area to know that it was Harry who approached. The young human was weak from overuse of the unfamiliar earth magic, but he was angry.

Yami edged closer. Drawing in that energy, allowing it to seep into his shadows. Bakura joined him and between the two of them they turned the staggering human into a half Shade. Harry walked through the shadows unharmed. Protected as he was by Yugi's spells he became a human who was for the moment completely one with the shadows.

The first taste of true fear began to hint around Voldemort. The darkings were clambering at the nearby magic, feeding on the power making the lights dim further.

Harry lifted his wand. The human could barely stand upright and yet he was willing to fight. Yami actually felt a little pride in the young human, perhaps Yugi had chosen well after all.

"Well, are you going to try and kill me?" Harry asked, his voice wavering as his body did. Yami surreptitiously held him upright.

Voldemort lifted his wand and opened his mouth, but before he could speak there was a loud crack and human magic exploded into the air. Yami hissed and gathered his shadows. There was a strange tint of earth magic within this human magic. It was a magical signature that Yami recognised.

"Dumbledore." Voldemort hissed.

The ancient wizard stepped from the shadows with his wand raised. Thankfully he had not brought his phoenix with him. Yami didn't think he could put up with that hateful creature as well tonight.

"Hello Tom. Well it seems that you have been busy." His blue eyes flickered to the shadow drenched Harry. "Harry please step back and let me take care of this." The old wizard asked.

For the first time Yami felt resentment towards this wizard. The non-human belonged to the Shades and as the representatives of their race, he and Bakura had decided that Harry was the one who would deliver their revenge.

"Back off human, he is ours." Bakura's cold voice echoed menacingly around the room.

Dumbledore's only response was to blink at the unfamiliar voice from the darkness. Harry set his jaw and met his teacher's eyes. "Sorry Professor, but he's mine."

Voldemort sneered, but behind that mask Yami could sense the non-humans terror at facing off against the four of them at once. A little more strength reached him.

"Perhaps not." Voldemort murmured.

A moment too late Yami realised what was about to happen, human magic flared and Voldemort was gone.

Bakura let out a string of curses in several languages as he flowed away from Harry. Yami lowered to the ground feeling a deep desire to curl up somewhere and rest, preferably with Yugi. Harry staggered sideways and Dumbledore caught him.

Yami was given no chance to consider resting as more human magic invaded his senses and several humans arrived. Bakura paused in his ranting and lunged for two of the humans.

Yami had seen this coming and had moved to intercept. He caught the other Shade and felt his own will buckle. Bakura was in much better shape than Yami was. Instead Yami hissed. "'Don't be a fool. I, if you want to get back to Ryou leave the humans be."

Bakura thrashed about in Yami's grip for a moment, before pulling back. The other humans were gathering around Harry and Dumbledore and didn't seem to have noticed the danger in the darkness.

Yami pulled his kin over. Now that the danger was gone Yami felt the return of the intense desire to kill Bakura. It took supreme self control to resist.

Dumbledore had produced something from his pocket and was in the process of spelling it. He handed it to Harry with a few words. Yami couldn't bring his attention to the meaning of the words.

Then the old wizards eyes flicked to the Shades and Yami realised what he was suggesting.

Yami grabbed Bakura and the three hyperactive darkings and grabbed the object in Harry's hand. The earth magic entwinged Dumbledore's magic, however it got there would protect the spell from the two Shades it carried.

There was a strange jerk and the world began to spin. As the human magic pulled them along, Yami felt something catch them. The direction changed and they began to move faster. Yami smiled.

* * *

_I have a couple of apologies to make._

_Sorry if people were expecting a big fight between Harry, the Shades and Voldemort. It couldn't appear here because the ending would just be wrong and the outcome at this point sort of obvious. There will be a fight, eventually._

_Sorry to anyone who feels offended that Harry killed Bellatrix, but there is a very important reason which will be explained in the next chapter. Things are not as they seem._

_Finally sorry for the cliff hanger at the end._


	35. Ryou

_Here we go the answers to many questions. Or at least the questions I hope you have been thinking of. Otherwise this is going to be a bit of surprise._

Chapter 35: Ryou

Harry felt the portkey change. He didn't know exactly what changed. There was the usual tug from below his navel and they were shooting off back to Hogwarts, then something different. He worried. Harry was absolutely exhausted and from the looks of things the two Shades who travelled with him weren't in much better shape. This didn't bode well if they landed in the middle of a crowd of waiting Death Eaters or off target in any way.

The portkey stopped and Harry's feet slammed into soft loamy ground. His already wobbly legs collapsed underneath him and he fell to the ground. After a moment, when he wasn't dead Harry rolled over and looked up. Above his head were trees, nothing but thick green foliage and heavy branches.

From where he lay Harry couldn't see Yami or Bakura. He was just starting to think that maybe he would just go to sleep right here and now when a face appeared within his field of vision. For a moment Harry wondered if something had gone wrong with Bakura. The face above him was strangely beautiful in a way that the fierce Shade could never manage. Yet the colouring was the same, the same pale skin and silvery white hair. Only this face had brown eyes, large deep soft brown eyes.

Harry blinked at the face and a smile curled its lips. "Hello, you must be Harry." His voice was different to Bakura's as well, lighter and kinder, with that same odd sing-song tone that Harry had become so used to in Yugi's voice.

Harry managed to nod. A hand appeared and took Harry's arm to lift him into a sitting position. Harry took a moment to allow his head to stop spinning. His new friend sat next to him and Harry was finally able to see all of him. The stranger was a good handful of inches taller than Harry and much slimmer, wearing grey-green and brown clothes which somehow allowed him to blend in almost completely with the surrounding forest. Concentrating too hard on seeing him made Harry's headache worse.

"I'm Ryou." Harry blinked again, his head wouldn't stop spinning. Ryou frowned ever so faintly and reached out one pale hand to touch Harry's forehead. A wonderful tingling sensation started from the point on Harry's forehead where Ryou's hand lay and worked its way through him. When Ryou lowered his hand Harry felt as though he had had a full night's sleep and a good meal. Now he was ready for the freaky white haired guy, but first things first. "Where's Yami?"

Ryou smiled, "He's gone to get Yugi. Bakura is still around if you feel that you desperately need a Shade."

Harry shuddered and shook his head. Of course Yami would go and find Yugi. Okay second question. "Who are you?"

Another smile, wow this guy smiled more than Yugi did. "I'm Ryou. Bakura is my Shade, though I suspect that you realised this.' He tilted his head slightly on the side resulting in a snowy cascade falling forwards to hide half of his face. "I'm an elf, I intercepted your travelling spell and brought you here. I thought that it was about time that someone explained things to you."

Harry frowned and shifted around on the soft ground while he thought. "Yami explained things to me, sort of."

Ryou laughed, "Sort of, yes that seems about right. Well I can hopefully explain things to you a little better. We should probably start with some questions, do you have any?"

Harry hadn't a moment ago, but now they were cramming themselves into his head. He took a moment to think. It was amazing, but he felt so clear headed. Score one for elfin magic. "I killed someone tonight." Ryou looked over at Harry. The elf had turned to look out into the forest, but now he brought all his attention back to Harry. Harry wasn't sure where the statement had come from, it certainly wasn't a question, but it was pressing on his mind demanding attention.

"Who?" Ryou's voice was kind and soft and encouraged Harry to explain something that he didn't think he would have been able to explain to anyone else.

"A witch, called Bellatrix LeStrange, she killed...' Harry had to pause to control himself. "She killed my godfather. The earth magic called to me and it..." Again he had to pause, though this time it was in confusion. He didn't know how to explain what had happened.

Ryou however seemed to understand perfectly. "Harry you need to understand that you are only borrowing the earth magic. It is an elfin magic and so the elfin laws apply. The greatest of all elfin laws is that no child may ever be harmed and that they will be protected in all ways. If you had died, as a fight between you and this Bellatrix would have resulted in, then Yugi too would have died. Do not forget that your lives are tied together now. The earth magic could not allow that, Yugi is far too important to our people. So it protected you."

Harry frowned. "But it's only magic?"

Ryou shook his head. "The earth magic is far more sentient than most people realise, it used you to protect Yugi."

Harry didn't understand, but something in the pale elf's voice made the heavy feeling in his heart lift a little. He hadn't been completely responsible for Bellatrix's death. The magic had taken control of him. Harry wasn't totally sure how he should take this, but for the moment he was going to put it aside and deal with it later.

"Okay explain the whole Yugi needing me to live thing then." Harry decided to just plough on through. Normally what Ryou was telling him would have bowled him over, but there was something about this place that made all the strange things that he was being told seem so normal. Or maybe he was just getting used to the really weird things that happened to him now.

Ryou's brown eyes became serious and he twisted around to face Harry front on. "The parent-child bond is one of the most complex magic's in our society." There was a flicker in the corner of Harry's eye and he turned instinctively to look, it was Bakura. Once again Harry had no idea how he knew that it was not Yami, but there it was.

"Harry." Ryou's soft voice called Harry's attention back to him.

Ryou continued. "When the parent is an elf there are no real changes, our children have few gifts that our adults don't already possess. However when the parent is a human, as you are there are certain changes. The bond provides Yugi with the emotive strength that he requires to survive at this age, it also provides you with some gifts. Firstly you gain the ability to see things as they really are; this is to allow you to better watch out for danger. It is the reason that you can see Yami and Bakura and distinguish between them." Ryou gave him a slightly knowing look and Harry returned with a sheepish grin, he had been following Bakura with his eyes as the Shade patrolled around the clearing.

"Shades cannot hide from the elves. We are in fact one of the few races that they are truly frightened of. Secondly you gain the ability to wield the earth magic this is to allow you to better protect your child. Your human magic is not really all that effective or powerful, but the earth magic is. You will become better at it as the time goes on; you just have to learn to adjust how much power you take in at a time."

Harry considered all of this and posed another question. "If the bond changed me so much what does it do to the Shades?"

Ryou considered him, a ruefully amused look on his face. "I don't know. Bakura has never told me about the changes that it brought about, certainly there are no changes in his personality." Ryou's smile suggested that he regretted this a little. "In any case the bond is not exactly the same, that bond is not required for either party to survive, however it does seem to have some advantages. The elf gets a guardian who will never rest and the Shades get an supplementary energy supply."

A thought occurred to Harry, but Ryou seemed to read his mind and immediately dismissed the idea. "There is no point asking Yami about this. He is as close mouthed as Bakura and besides the bond is very new to him, he still seems very confused about how it works."

Harry blew a sigh, but left it at that, "Is there any chance that Yugi's real parents will come back?" It was a question that he had been pondering all year.

In an instant Ryou's face closed up. Harry found this so confusing. Yugi's family seemed to be some kind of taboo subject, everyone who wasn't human seemed to know who they were, yet no one was willing to even mention them, not even a name.

"If they could have they would have returned before Yugi even came to you, but yes there is still a chance that they may return. What will you do if they should return, you have the right to keep Yugi should you wish to?" Harry considered the point. He loved Yugi sure, but it wasn't right to keep him if his real parents came to get him, besides he really belonged with his own people. Not to mention he would be able to stop people starring at him quite so much. "I'd let them take him, he belongs with them."

Ryou relaxed and nodded, then he rose to his feet. Harry got up as well, though not nearly so gracefully. He had one other question. "Is there someone who can teach me the earth magic better? Yami did an alright ob I guess but he never seemed really sure about what he was doing?"

Ryou tilted his head and considered. "You don't need to learn to use it Harry. With the bond to Yugi the ability becomes innate. All I can tell you, and all any other Master would be able to tell you is that the earth magic responds to the will of the person who wields it. Take the magic and tell it what you want to do, it will take care of the rest, especially in your case."

Ryou smiled at Harry and Harry found himself smiling back. "It has been good speaking with you Harry. Should you ever need any help please call for me, or get Yami to, he knows how to find me."

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Yami hurried through the forest towards the village. Ryou was with Harry so the human would be alright.

Yami felt Yugi coming closer. The elf was coming out to meet him. Yami moved faster, as fast as his faltering reserves of strength would allow. And yet even this close to his dear little bond-mate Yami could feel his strength returning.

Yami swept Yugi up into his shadows and tossed him in the air. He moved smoothly over and caught him as Yugi dropped back down. Dashing around the clearing Yami tossed and caught the tiny elf, revelling in his bright laughter and the energy it supplied. Finally Yami settled down into the centre of the clearing and retook human form, an action which took more effort than he had hoped. Yugi snuggled into his chest humming gently. Yami hummed in reply.

It was undeniably strange being in another Shades territory while the other Shade was still there. However the immense power of the elves prevented them from fighting. It didn't get rid of their desire to rip each other to shreds however so Yami was staying away from Bakura.

"Is Harry alright?" Yugi sung to him.

Yami shifted uncomfortably. He had been quite happy when she and her mate had been Yugi's only parents, he was still not all that happy about having to share Yugi with this human. Yugi touched a tiny hand to Yami's cheek and the Shade sighed. "He is fine, Ryou is with him."

Yugi smiled and relaxed, he was tired too. Being apart from his parent for so long was not good for him. Yami tightened his grip on Yugi, the elf shifted slightly and looked up into his face. "We need to go back to Hogwarts before anyone notices we are missing."

Yami moaned at the thought of having to cross those anti-Shade spells again.

Yugi giggled, "You will not have to, we can use the magic that Harry's teacher used to send you here in the first place. That will protect you to a degree."

Yami sighed in agreement and picking Yugi up he and his three darkings made their way back to the clearing where Harry waited for them.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

There was another flicker of shadows and Yami flowed out of the forest. Bakura immediately twitched, but Ryou stepped forwards and stood between the two. Apparently the uneasy alliance was over.

Harry didn't really have time to think about that because with a cry of utter delight, Yugi hurtled from the Shade and straight into Harry's arms. Harry crushed the tiny elf, delighted to find that he had missed the wonderful little boy who had so totally changed his life.

"You are alright?" Yugi asked, pulling back a little so that he could look into Harry's face.

"Fine." Harry pulled him back and hugged him again.

"You should go Harry. Before anyone notices you are missing, or before Yami and Bakura decide that a fight would be a good end to the evening." Ryou was still standing hands on his hips, watching Bakura, but his lips twitched in amusement and he winked at Harry.

Harry grinned, and then hesitated. "How do we get back?"

Ryou laughed and tossed the broken quill that Dumbledore had turned into the portkey to him. Yami slid around Harry's ankles. Harry could tell that the Shade was still tired, though he seemed better for being back around Yugi. Harry felt the familiar tug in his middle and they were once again hurtling towards Hogwarts. Harry wondered if Hermione and Ron were back yet.

* * *

_Awwww, Ryou's such a love. He had to have a shining moment somewhere and this is it._

_I know I said earlier that Harry wouldn't be good at the earth magic. Please don't take this as me changing my mind. As optimistic as Ryou is, Harry is still going to have to wrestle with the earth magic a bit. Things will still go wrong at all the right moments._


	36. Home?

_Sorry about the vague Dumbledore explaining bit here. I didn't have the book with me, so I couldn't look up some of the more important details and had to do it from memory. Seeing as I haven't read the book since I started this story I think I did fairly well. _

Chapter 36: Home?

As the last of the human magic cleared from his senses Yami dropped away from Harry and congealed himself in a nearby corner. He was still tired and despite Ryou's energising spell Yami could see that Harry was as well.

They were in the old wizard's office and that damned phoenix was there. Yami summon up as much strength as he could. Then he caught Yugi looking at him. What the hell, he was too tired to be bothered anyway. Besides it was about time that the students remembered what it was like for him to be here.

"Yami wait." Harry's voice held an irritating note of pleading. "Please can you stay, Professor Dumbledore wanted to tell me something and I think you should hear it."

Yami moaned softly, but once again Yugi's eyes begged him and he was too weak to resist. He slunk back to his corner. The phoenix was watching him untrustingly so he glared at it. They began to wait and after a few silent minutes all the darkings that Yami had called on as the distraction appeared and filled up the room.

Harry was staring around at them as they clambered at Yami for congratulations on a job well done. Yami gave it grudgingly and told them to go back to the forest. They did so willingly. He would have to deal with them all later, when he had enough strength to repay them for their help.

"What are they?" Harry asked. Yami spared a glare for him too, irritating human.

/Yami/ Yugi's mind voice managed to put a great deal of insistence into one word.

"They are darkings and if I tell you anymore I am breaking the laws of my own people."

Harry looked a little disbelieving, "Shades have laws, who upholds them? You can't even stand the sight of one and other."

Yami growled. He wanted to rest and this human was asking questions? "The knowledge of our laws is inborn. If we break them we punish ourselves."

Harry stared, "Like House Elves, who makes you do that?" He sounded indignant, fool.

"If we did not hold true to our laws then we would wipe ourselves out. The Shadows Laws are final, we do not question them, now be quiet so I can rest."

Harry sat down and Yugi settled on his lap. /You could be a little nicer, he is just curious./

/I'm tired Yugi, I don't want to answer questions or listen to explanations right now and I doubt that Harry does either./

/It is going to be important./

Yami threw a very quick glance over at his calm bond-mate. Surely he hadn't inherited his father's foresight as well as his mothers healing ability? How much power could one child hold?

Yami decided that that was a question for another time, when he was awake and had several peaceful months to think about it.

They waited in silence for several more long minutes before Dumbledore arrived. The wizard looked at Harry and then his eyes wandered around the room. Yami was interested to notice that this time the wizard seemed to have trouble spotting him. After a mental poke from Yugi, Yami drew his shadows together. Yami covered his shadows with the thinnest layer of spells that he could manage, prayed his strength would hold out and leant against a nearby desk. He set his face to unfriendly.

Dumbledore studied Yami silently for a few moments then he nodded and turned to Harry. "I certainly owe you an explanation Harry." He said sadly and settled in his chair. Yami looked at Harry without turning his head. The boy felt no anger. It was gone he was simply tired. Ryou's temporary healing spell was wearing off and without the intoxicating magic that lived in the forests around elfin villages, the human was having trouble comprehending anything.

Yami decided that if he was here until Harry was done then he would push things along a little. "Get on with it human, we are tired." It was a royal 'we', himself, Yugi and Harry. The elf just tired from worrying and being away from his parent. That concerned Yami the most.

Dumbledore nodded and began to talk. Yami didn't listen past the first few words. He really couldn't get his mind to concentrate on the human language so he had Yugi tell him the general gist of the conversation. The elfin child had become very good at condensing and re-explaining things to him. Something that Yami was very glad of.

Apparently a prophecy had been made about Voldemort and Harry, which told that Voldemort would give Harry some power and in turn Harry was the only one who could kill him. Something along the lines of neither could live while the other survived. Yami liked that, it had a nice ring to it. However it was concerning. Prophecies were powerful magic and if it claimed that Harry had to be the one to kill the non-human then Yami would not be able to do it for him.

Dumbledore then went on to talk about how he had resisted telling Harry because he had not wanted to burden him with it, but now he could see that Harry was strong enough. Yami rolled his eyes at that. The human was a parent to an elf, companion to a Shade and had defeated the non-human more times than most people had survived encounters with him. Harry had been ready for this for a long time.

Dumbledore had stopped talking and he and Harry were looking at each other in one of those moments of complete understanding that sometimes seemed to pass between humans. Yami couldn't even begin to understand how that worked. Yugi gave him an affectionate smile over Harry's shoulder as he was carried from the room. Yami turned to go with them. "Yami please wait a moment." Dumbledore called.

Yami opened his mouth to snarl at the human before Yugi stopped him cold and begged him to talk to the man. Yami satisfied himself with a low growl and waited until Harry had closed the door behind him. The wizard studied him for a moment. "I have a few questions for you if you do not mind answering them?"

"I mind, but that does not matter make this quick." Yami snapped, the phoenix lifted its wings in response to his tone. With a supreme effort Yami ignored him.

"I assume that you wish to return to Privet Drive with Harry and Yugi."

"You assume correctly human, what of it?"

"I merely wished to be sure before I removed the anti-Shade spells to allow you to cross there. I am grateful that you are protecting Harry for me."

"You have nothing to do with it human, Harry has little to do with it. I protect him because Yugi's life is tied to his. There is no other reason." Yami took a step towards the door, but the human asked another question.

"Years ago I suspected that Voldemort was using a darker power for a time, would you know anything about that?" Yami glanced up. This was treading dangerous ground, the Shades barely admitted to their part in the dealing with the non-human.

Yami had a quick argument with himself before deciding that an explanation was probably best. "Years ago the human you call Voldemort managed to ally himself with several Shades. At the time we did not know that he wished us to work together under his command. When we found out we abandoned him and his plans. No Shade will work with him again, most will kill him on sight. If that is what you are worried about."

Dumbledore nodded. "I was concerned. However, to have creatures as strong as yourself working, perhaps not with us, but with the same purpose as the magical population is reassuring."

"Fine. Do not remove the spells upon Harry's home until I have left here. I do not wish to fight off another Shade in order to secure Yugi's new home." Yami turned and released his human form. Dumbledore didn't call to him, so Yami made his way towards the common room. The strange sensations of relaxation and calm were not enriching, but Yugi was there and the elf's warm presence began the flow of energy into Yami's shadows. He curled up in his corner and settled down to rest.

Yami rested for several days before he was up to moving again. His innate spells had brought in enough fearful energy to supplement the strength he got from Yugi's light.

After he was up the atmosphere had become lighter, but Yami didn't mind. He stayed away from the human children, preferring to remain in the forest with the darkings or follow Yugi around. Harry seemed depressed, that was all Yami noticed. Yugi informed him that Harry was upset about the death of his parent. Harry talked to a few people about it, but nothing seemed to comfort him properly. Even Yugi's gentle assurances that Harry would see him again someday did little to improve his mood.

This annoyed Yami to no end. Yugi was upset and when Yugi got upset, Yami got grumpy. Finally Yami dragged the moping human into an unused classroom and sat him on a chair, rather forcefully. As Yami turned his flashing eyes on Harry the human flinched. Yami allowed himself a little pleasure at that, Harry may not fear Shades as he should, but a good glare would still get him.

"If you will believe no one else then believe me human, your moping will do no good. Nothing short of an elfin Death Walker will return your parent to you. However one day soon you will pass through the Veil of Shadows and rejoin him. All I ask is that you last out until Yugi can survive on his own." Yami narrowed his eyes at him and to his surprise Harry gave a faint smile. "Sorry, but it is nice to know you care Yami. Um, what was that Veil. You said it was something that made Shades?"

Yami shivered, he had been trying not to think about the Veil. "It doesn't create Shades. The Veil is a human fabrication, an attempt at magic which has opened the way into the shadows which are at the very core of all Shades. It is human magic, so I cannot explain exactly what it is.'

Harry nodded. "Are you sure..." Yami cut him off with a growl.

Yugi climbed onto Harry's lap and hugged him, sending a slightly frosty look back at Yami. "We are still here Harry, and Yami is right you will see Sirius again soon."

Yami just looked at the two of them and gave up. What did he care anyhow?

The Shade took off and went back to the forest, at least darkings made sense.

OOOOOOOO  
OOOOOO  
OOOO

Harry stepped off the Hogwarts Express. Yugi toddled along next to him, his huge eyes trying to take in everything at once. Yami stepped off the train in human form. The Shade had alternated between human form and shadow form during the train ride, depending on who was in their compartment. The colouring spells were in place because no one had been told of a Shades presence at Hogwarts. Not even the teachers, other than those who were members of the Order.

Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Mr and Mrs Weasley met them at the station. Each one of them looked warily at Yami, but said nothing. Yami looked smug, so Harry supposed that they were more unnerved by him than they showed.

Apparently Dumbledore had been playing with the anti-Shade spells everywhere, because so far Yami had met with no resistance. Even if he did, Harry had had Hermione teach him the spell she had used to remove the spells around the Ministry. At least then he could offer Yami the chance to move around as he wanted to.

Harry could see that the Order were less than impressed with Harry's new guard, but Dumbledore's word counted for a lot and the fact that the Shade had helped at the Ministry added a few more points. Not that Yami cared; in fact he barely seemed to notice the other humans.

His attention was focused on keeping Yugi within arm's reach. The elf seemed fascinated by the railway station and was trying to be everywhere at once. Harry didn't bother keeping an eye on him as Harry lifted his trunk up onto one of the trolleys. Yami was easily the best babysitter known to mankind, nothing would happen to the tiny elf while the Shade was watching over him.

Harry concentrated instead on thinking about how he was going to explain coming home from Wizarding School with a small beautiful child and a living shadow to his obsessively anti-magic aunt and uncle.

Everyone had suggested ways of telling them. Neville's comment had received the best response. "He's a Shade, just set him loose." Admittedly it was a comforting thought, his aunt and uncle wouldn't be able to mistreat Harry this summer.

After a great deal of discussion Yami had finally made a decision that he would not reveal himself to Harry's relatives at all, at least that way Harry only had to explain Yugi.

Harry finally glanced up to see Yami carrying Yugi back towards him. Yugi was wriggling around in the Shade's death grip still trying to see everything that was happening. The slightly hassled look on Yami's face would have been funny if he had been anyone else. Even Hermione and Ron looked like they were trying rather hard not to laugh.

Yami set Yugi on the top of the trolley where Harry could keep an eye on him without impeding the elf's view. Yami followed after Harry as they headed for the barrier into the muggle part of King's Cross Station. Harry glanced back at Yami. "You aren't going to freak out too many muggles are you?"

Yami just glared at him, then they stepped through the barrier. Once Harry cleared the barrier with Yugi giggling loudly as the magic tickled him, he noticed that Yami's sleek deadly figure was gone, replaced once again with the familiar discrete shadows. Harry watched in fascination as they moved through the crowds. Yami was careful not to run into too many humans, though when he did Harry noticed an interesting difference between the reactions of those wizards he ran through and the muggles. The wizards would start and look around; surprised by the sensation of walking through very cold deep water; while the muggles didn't even seem to notice anything.

The Weasley's and the other members of the Order called goodbye to Harry as he headed to where he knew that his uncle would be waiting to pick him up.

Harry realised just how much Dumbledore trusted Yami to watch over Harry's safety as they left. He was not even leaving someone to make sure that Harry made it back to Privet Drive safely, Yami was all he had. Admittedly Yami was all he really needed.

Harry finally caught sight of his Uncle Vernon, the man was hard to miss and headed over in his direction.

The first thing Harry's uncles eyes settled on was Yugi. "What...how...where?" Uncle Vernon spluttered. Harry thought fast, he still hadn't thought of something that was really any good so he went with one of Hermione's suggestions, "He is a school project." Harry could tell that this wasn't going well by the shade of purple Uncle Vernon's face was turning.

"I am not having that thing in my house." He hissed. Yami's shadows which were now wound around Harry's ankles twitched in annoyance at Yugi being called a thing.

Before Harry could argue Yugi lifted his beautiful eyes and looked at Uncle Vernon sadly. Harry's uncle stopped and stared at the elfin child, he seemed dumbstruck.

After a few long moments he finally grunted, "Fine whatever, but it doesn't come out and no one else sees it understood."

Harry nodded quickly surprised, before Yami's voice laughed softly in his ear. Unheard by Harry's portly uncle who was now stuffing Harry's trunk into the car Yami murmured. "You of all people should know that no one argues with Yugi." Harry grinned and after buckling Yugi into the back with Yami curled into a tiny ball of nearly solid darkness next to him, he climbed into the front seat.

Summer was going to be fun.

* * *

_HOORAY I have technically finished my first story. This was after all the first story that I started writing._

_It may seem like a strange place to finish, but the next year will start from the summer holidays. Yes there is a sequel and it will be up in a few weeks, possibly as early as next week, depending on how quickly I can get my current assignments done. If things start to drag, PM me and kick me into gear._

_So far the sequel is called 'The Path of Shadow's', but that may change._

_For those of you who read this later, please leave a review I'd love to keep hearing about what people think about my story. Even in the middle after a chapter you liked._

_Well until next time._


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